


The Division Bell

by Acidqueen



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Supernatural
Genre: Crossover, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:41:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 35,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28247097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acidqueen/pseuds/Acidqueen
Summary: After the Reapers, and Metatron, and the Darkness, and Chuck, came a peaceful separation and new growth.And after the new growth there came cataclysm and a call for help.Israfel and her sons answer the call, and this time the answers may break her heart for good.This is the Ryder Gospel.
Relationships: Archangel Cadfael/Liara T'soni, Archangel Israfel/Harry Carlyle, Castiel/Dean Winchester, Kaidan Alenko/Male Shepard, Peebee/Male Ryder | Scott





	1. Breathe

**_Azrael’s Memory  
_ ** **Heleus Cluster, Andromeda Galaxy  
** **1 year after the Battle of Meridian**

  
  


A Geth platform reached out and gently shook the sleeper. “We’re here, Addy.”

A young woman slowly sat up and looked around the room. She rubbed her bleary hazel eyes and yawned a couple of times before stretching. The soft fabric of her grey bodysuit carried a lingering whiff of ozone from the mass effect field that had held her in stasis, and felt cool against her skin. “‘Mwuh?” She looked over to the silvery-blue Geth platform standing next to the medbay bed. “Hey Fermat,” she muttered in a voice still thick with sleep. “Izzy’s still snoozing.”

“I figured as much.” Fermat bobbled his eyeflaps as he spoke. “Everyone else is still asleep, but since we’re here I figured that I should at least get you up so you can call home and let them know that we got here okay. There’s some weirdness outside that I’m keeping an eye on, too, so just take it slow. I’ve got breakfast whenever you're ready.”

“Ooh, nice. Cereal, bacon and eggs, or _sangak e panir_?” Addy yawned again and twisted her torso to one side and then the other, using the sides of the bed as leverage. She felt a couple of pops and grunted softly. “Much better.” She slowly stood and did a deep back-bend, feeling more soft pops travel up her spinal column. “Oh yeah, much better.”

“The latter. Also taftoon with honey and quince jam.” Fermat nodded. “Maybe a few other things. I figured we should celebrate our safe arrival, so I busted out the good stuff and put the galley through its paces a bit to make the bread.”

Addy turned to face the Geth and quickly caught herself on a table as her head swam a bit. “Whoa! I’m good! I’m good!” She put a hand up and closed her eyes in an attempt to help the vertigo fade. “Note to self, no quick turns after waking up from cryo.” Addy opened her eyes. “Got excited about a Persian meal like my Baba used to make. Fermat, you truly are a scholar and a gentleman as well as a good friend. Gimme a minute and we’ll be up.” Fermat saluted and headed out of the medbay, leaving Addy alone. The room had several beds lined up next to the small cryo bay, with medical equipment next to each. The lights overhead were slightly dimmed to allow newly-awakened sleepers’ eyes to adjust. A drone spawned in the middle of the room, and floated over to scan the human in the middle of the room.

“OK Addy,” Fermat announced over the intercom, “your readings are good. You still feeling dizzy?”

She looked up. “Nah, I should be okay--especially once I get some food into me.”

_Okay, I’m up._ Israfel’s voice rumbled in the back of Addy’s mind. _Stasis definitely works on angels, but holy fuck does it ever feel weird._

Addy looked over at the mirror on one wall. “And we look damn tired. Anyway, we made it. Fermat’s got a Persian-style breakfast waiting for us, and I need to let you drive anyway so you can report in.”

Her eyes glowed for a moment, and a golden mark appeared on her forehead. “Sounds good. But first let’s go have breakfast.” 

_Be careful getting around, old friend. We’ve been asleep for three centuries and change, and I had a bit of a dizzy spell just after waking up._

“Don’t remind me.” Israfel ambled out of the medbay and caught a whiff of spices and citrus. “Oh that smells awesome. Fermat, you’re in the mess?”

“Hang a left,” he replied over the comms. “I set everything up in the Atrium instead, so you can eat and chat at the same time. And take it easy--you and Addy just woke up, and we’re safe enough that you don’t need to be mission-ready right away.”

Israfel looked up at one of the cameras overhead and smiled. “Got it.” She slowly veered to the left and started ambling down halls decorated with greenery and images from the Milky Way galaxy showing rebuilt cities and blossoming colony worlds interspersed with artwork from each race that had joined the Council--or in the case of the Yahg, had at least grudgingly agreed to coexist with it.

At the entrance to the Atrium, Israfel paused before a bronze plaque inscribed in Enochian, Farsi, and English.

**_Azrael  
_ ** **_Warrior of Light who showed us the way through the Darkness.  
_ ** **_Sister, Aunt, Friend, Protector, Shepherd.  
_ ** **_Her sacrifice freed us all._ **

**_We’ll see you soon._ **

“I’ll find him Az,” the archangel whispered as she ran a hand over a Krogan-made engraving depicting the Door of Dark and Light. “Wherever he is.” She sighed heavily and went up the three steps into the Atrium. The vaulted ceiling’s virtual windows were activated, showing Israfel her first view of the Heleus Cluster. The ship’s comm array, a diaphanous web of alloys and crystals like the one in the Citadel’s Council Atrium, hung from the ceiling.

“That cloud out there almost nailed us when we dropped out of FTL,” Fermat explained, indicating an ominous looking mass between the ship and the nearby planet. “Good thing I was keeping an eye on the long-range scanners, or we’d have been toast.”

Israfel blinked a couple times. “What am I seeing?” she asked. She reached up and scratched her left shoulder, focusing her attention on the cloud. “The fuck...is that dark energy?”

“It sure is. And something else that I can’t identify just yet.”

“Can we sample it?” Israfel picked up a triangle of soft saffron-and-cardamom infused bread from the table and looked down to make sure she didn’t stick her fingers in the quince jam while reaching for a spoon. She smeared a spoonful of the sweet-tart jam on the bread, then picked up a couple of cubes of salty lighvan cheese and wrapped them in the jam-laden bread to make a sandwich.

Fermat raised an eyeflap as he watched her assemble her breakfast, and Israfel raised an eyebrow back at him.

“What? I like the flavour contrast.” She sniffed at it a bit before taking a bite. “Mmm…” The archangel chewed slowly with her eyes closed, savouring the squeak of the salty cheese on her teeth against the backdrop of soft spiced bread and the faint notes of dried lime and rosewater from the jam. “Amazeballs.”

Fermat let out an electronic snort, then replied, “I sent out a couple of probes while you were still waking up, and got some samples--sending the results to your OmniTool now.”

Israfel punched up the data on her OmniTool. She stared at the screen for a moment, then slowly set her sandwich down on a nearby plate. “Is this accurate?”

“Yeah. I double-checked it.”

“Vash’urj.” Israfel looked up and over to Fermat. “Time to call home.”

The ship shuddered slightly as Fermat engaged the thrusters. “Moving us to the system’s L4, well away from that cloud. Just in case.” After several long minutes, he nodded. “Okay, we should be safe to make the call.” He started for the door out of the Atrium. “I’m going to head up to the bridge and see what else I can find out.”

Israfel punched a couple of commands in on her OmniTool, and the array lit up and lowered. She reached up and touched one of the crystals on the array, and the device began to hum softly. After a moment, an image formed in front of her of a human male about her size, with sandy collar-length hair swept back from a high forehead. He had a wry half-smile on his face, and wore black jeans and a leather jacket.

“Hey Izzy!” the man said merrily. “I see you made it!”

Israfel smiled. “Good to see you again, Gabriel. How have the last three and a half centuries treated you?”

“It’s good,” the archangel replied. “I'm still not a hundred percent comfortable with being Speaker, but I'm living with it--The Council is the Council, but aside from that? People say what’s on their mind and help out rather than all the lying and backstabbing and crap we had to deal with ‘back home’. And I like that.”

“And shit gets done, too. It’s amazing what people can do when you treat them as equals rather than underlings!” Israfel picked up her breakfast again, and with her free hand punched in a command on her OmniTool. “We’ve got some preliminary data,” she said. “Fermat gathered it while Addy and I were waking up.” Gabriel punched in a command on the console in front of him, and watched the assay of the cloud roll up the screen. “It shows that we’re on the right track,” Israfel commented, “but at the same time I’m…”

Gabriel’s eyes widened a bit and his expression turned serious. “...concerned.”

“Yeah.” Israfel took another bite of her sandwich, and chewed on it while her brother kept reading. “I’m especially worried about the implications of it,” she remarked through her mouthful of food. She heard footsteps and looked over her shoulder to see three men walking into the Atrium. She swallowed her bite of food and said “G‘Morning kids.”

Stannis and Gabriel Shepard gave their father kisses on the cheek, and Kaidan gave her a hug. Their bodysuits were blue, in contrast to Israfel’s grey suit.

“Hey nephews!” Gabriel grinned.

“Hey Uncle,” the Shepard boys replied in unison as Kaidan waved. The trio went over to the table and started assembling their own breakfasts from the spread that Fermat had laid out for them.

“Taftoon?” Gabriel Shepard asked. “What’s the occasion?”

“The occasion is that we made it in one piece.” Israfel winked at her son and turned her attention back to her brother. Additional information scrolled up a holo-display next to his image. “Anyway, Fermat’s collating comm chatter and accessing whatever he can while we’ve been standing here. As you can see, the Andromeda Initiative arrived--and they apparently learned the hard way to keep well away from that cloud. The Turians got the worst of it, but the Salarians made it past it unscathed. The Asari made it but what happened to them exactly is unclear. The Human ark only took some damage to nav systems, but fortunately they were able to repair it.”

“What about the Quarians?” Gabriel leaned on the console in front of him.

“They haven’t shown up yet--not a surprise, since they got started right before Harbinger rolled in to beat us up for our lunch money.” Israfel shook her head. “I don’t know that it’s a good idea to make contact with the Initiative yet anyway. There’s talk of a hostile force hanging out in the cluster--they're called the Kett. I don’t want us being seen as another aggressor. My game plan right now is to find our folks--if any of them are still around--and see what we can dig up.” 

Gabriel nodded. “Not a bad plan, but you’re going to have to wake Junior at some point so he can go see to his people.”

“True, but we can do that when we go near wherever the Krogan settled.”

“Sounds good.” Gabriel keyed his console. “Got some new data coming back your way; apparently a new addition to the Master Library opened up not long after you arrived. Ruthie and Tyl are having a field day with all the new arrivals.”

The screen next to Gabriel cleared, and a new stream of data appeared for Israfel to read. “Hmm," she said. "So it looks like we’re going to be Librarians until we can find a place to get the Door set up.” She looked to her brother and nodded. “I’m cool with that.”

“Just a heads-up,” Fermat paged, “that cloud outside is apparently all over the cluster. The locals and the Initiative are calling it “The Scourge”. According to the decay rates I’ve calculated, it’s around three hundred-fiftyish years old, which means that this is more than likely the reason we got the distress call. It also means that we’re going to have a helluva time trying to find a place to set up the dark-space comm buoys, much less get the Door active.” He paused for a moment, then added, “It’s a good thing we brought a Forge with us, because I have a feeling we’ll need to use it to replace comm buoys as they get trashed by that thing.”

She nodded. “Yeah. Welp, I’m going to let you go so we can get started. Give everyone my love, please.”

“I will.” Gabriel nodded. “I’ll see you soon.”

“I’ll see you soon.” Israfel closed the connection, and the comm array dimmed and rose back to its place near the ceiling. She walked back to the table and joined her sons and son-in-law. “We’ve got a tough row to hoe.” She took another bite of her sandwich and chewed on it while tapping out some commands on her Omni-Tool. She swallowed and continued, “I’m sending you copies of the data that Fermat collected just before he woke you three, and the data that Ruth sent while I was talking to your uncle so that you can read it in detail.”

Kaidan scooped up a little bit of lamb and rice with a piece of bread and popped it in his mouth, then started scrolling through the screen that came up on his OmniTool. “Hmm. Hmm mm.”

“Talking about the unlocked section of the Library?” Stannis asked. He smiled when he got a nod from his husband. “Yeah, I noticed that too. Looks like our uncle Tyl is even more excited about it than Ruth is.”

Gabriel nodded. “And that takes some doing.” He scrolled. “From this, the human Ark arrived in this system.” He looked up and around at the virtual windows, and indicated the nearby planet. “That was supposed to be the Human golden world,” he said. “Until that cloud fucked it but good.”

Kaidan nodded. “Yeah--Udar threw in a note here about the Human Pathfinder.” He looked up. “It’s toward the tail end. Wow--he not only started wandering the second he got to his Heaven, but he sought out the Library and insisted on a SCRYE once he found it. That’s apparently where we’ve gotten our info from the Library about the human Ark’s arrival.” Kaidan started reading, “‘Pathfinder Ryder asks that the following message be passed to his children. “Tell them I love them, and I'm proud of them.”’ Poor guy--he gets to his Promised Land, and doesn’t live to see it.”

“From his psych profile and these notes from Tyl, I think that he’ll have lots of fun in the Master Library,” Gabriel commented. “We should focus on eating, by the way. We’ve got work ahead of us.”

“While you’re doing that, I’m trying to find a way through or around that morass,” Fermat announced from the bridge.

“Thanks a ton, Fermat.” Israfel smiled. She reached over and grabbed a cube of cheese, and popped it in her mouth. As she chewed, she felt the sulfur compounds and amino acids in the cheese dancing on her tongue with the hydrocarbons from the basil and rosemary and olive oil, accompanied by the slight squeak of the curd on her teeth. The smoky tart-bitterness of the dried limes in the marinade trickled along the sides of her tongue to the back like wallflowers at a nightclub.

_I always loved the cheese plate at family gatherings,_ Addy commented in the back of her mind. _My grandma always made the lighvan by hand. It was very sweet of Fermat to make us a Persian meal._

“Mmmhmm.” Israfel smiled as she swallowed the bite of cheese. “Hey Fermat?” She raised her voice a bit to hail the bridge.

“Yeeees?”

“Thank you for the taste of home. Addy and I appreciate it a great deal.” The men at the table nodded their agreement.

“It was my pleasure,” Fermat replied. “I’ve found out where the Krogan have colonized, by the way--it’s a tidally-locked moon called Elaaden. Want me to lay in a course and get ready to wake up the Urdnot kids?”

Israfel looked around the table a moment, then looked up and said “Let’s save it--for now, let’s see what we can find on the world formerly known as Habitat 7.” In response, the ship began to hum as its Geth pilot engaged the engines. “And on that note,” the archangel said, “we should bus this deliciousness to the commissary when we're done, and get it secured in the chill-chest so Fermat has less to worry about while we’re on-planet.”

  
  


**3 hours later**

“I understand why it’s just the three of you.” Kaidan held out Stannis’ cloak to him. “But I’m still not thrilled with it.”

Stannis kissed his husband. “I know, but you didn’t ask to be put into a new body just to come on this trip and die in the first expedition.” He kissed Kaidan again and reached into his locker for a facemask. “Besides, I’d miss you.” He winked, and Kaidan responded by rolling his eyes.

“At least until you got the Door set up,” he laughed. “I’d miss you too.” Stannis reached out to take his cloak, and Kaidan tightened his grip. “Hey,” he said. “I love you. Come back in one piece.” He let go, and got another kiss.

“I love you too, Kaidan. I promise I’ll come back in one piece.” Stannis attached the clasps of his cloak to the collar of his recon suit. “And don’t eat all the tahdig while I’m gone,” he quipped with a wink. "You know I like the crunchy bits too."

Kaidan laughed. “You’ve got a deal.” He and Stannis touched foreheads, kissed again, and Kaidan watched his husband put on his facemask and adjust the fit before putting up the hood of his cloak and trotting out to the shuttle bay to join his father and brother. “I’ll see you soon,” he whispered. Almost immediately, he heard Stannis’ voice over the comms.

“I’ll see you soon, Kaidan.”


	2. Relics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Consensus team heads to Habitat 7/Ryder-1.

**Habitat 7**

**Heleus Cluster**

  
  


The drop-shuttle rocked as it made re-entry. Stannis adjusted the descent angle, and the chop subsided. “I’m flattening out the angle a bit. It’ll make descent slower, but we should be better able to avoid any atmospheric issues.”

Israfel looked over to Stannis. “At least the atmospheric disturbances are definitely gone--so that’s good.” She pointed to some wreckage on the ground when they got closer to their landing zone. “That must be one of the shuttles from the Human expedition. Let’s find a place to park nearby.”

“Nothing moving on the surface,” Gabriel announced. “We should be able to move about the planet’s surface without running into anyone...or anything.” He activated the drop-shuttle’s scanners. “There are structures on the ground. Plotting areas to investigate, including a superstructure that was at the epicenter of the storm that the Humans ran into.”

Israfel activated her OmniTool. “Receiving data now. Gabriel, can you divide it up into three areas? Let’s start in the middle and work our way out.”

“Done.” Gabriel patted his brother on the shoulder. “Look--port side.” The trio looked out the shuttle’s virtual windows to see a pair of large flying creatures that undulated their way through the atmosphere. “Have you seen such a thing?”

Stannis whistled. “Man...We’ll have to bring Kaidan back here.”

“Agreed.” Gabriel indicated a door set into the side of a mountain. “Go ahead and set down there.”

The shuttle set down on a platform with some foreign structures attached to it. The shuttle door opened, and the trio hopped out. An open door led into the structure. Israfel approached it and activated a drone that zipped inside and scanned the structure’s layout. “Huh.” She studied her OmniTool. “Looks like this was command central.” She walked inside. “Fermat, you getting this?”

“Sure am. It’s a lot like structures that my people build. Navigable by organics, but the symmetry of it makes the environment more comfortable for folks like yours truly.”

A triangular structure hovered in the middle of the command center, suspended on what looked like beams of light from each corner. The center of the triangle undulated as Israfel approached, and a voice echoed in her head.

_ Hi Sis. _

“Lucifer…” Israfel whispered the name.

_ If you’re getting this message, then one of two things happened--either the cluster went completely to shit and you’re standing in a bunch of rubble, or there’s something still standing and a human from the Andromeda Initiative managed to access it. Either way, I’m not here and you **need** to find Jack. _

_ You know that I’ve never had a great deal of love for humans, Izzy, but you were right when you told me that they definitely deserve more credit than I’ve given them--and they’re better than us. _

_ You gave me a chance that I probably didn’t deserve. I--no,  _ **_we_ ** _ \--ran with that, and we’ve tried to build something good here. And I...well, I’ve tried to be a better father to Jack than Dad was to us. If there’s anything left, please save it if you can. If nothing else, I owe my boy that much.  _

_ I’ll see you soon. _

A web appeared before Israfel’s face, each junction highlighted. One point blinked, and Israfel reached out to touch it. The web grew until it was replaced by a layout of the recon team’s search area, with several points marked. One stood out, and Israfel indicated it to her sons. “Do you see this?” she asked. Her voice was quiet.

“Yeah.” Gabriel put a hand on her shoulder, and Israfel turned her head to look at him. “You okay? You were just kind of standing there for several minutes.” He looked at the triangular structure, then back to his father. “What was all that?”

Israfel sat down on the deck of the platform and let out a heavy sigh. “Lucifer,” she whispered. “He left a message for me--I don’t know if he’s dead or gone or what, but he asked us to find Jack.” She tapped her OmniTool. “Here. We should head to these coordinates. Just...let me sit here for a bit.”

Gabriel sat next to his father and put an arm around her. “Dad…” Israfel grabbed her younger son in a tight embrace, and he could feel her trying to fight back sobs. “Hey,” Gabriel whispered, “it’ll be okay. We’ll find out what happened here.” He looked up to see his brother walking toward them, and held a hand out to him. Stannis joined the group embrace on the floor, and he looked over to his brother.

“What’s up?”

Gabriel sighed. “Lucifer left a message. Whatever it was...I’m guessing something bad happened here.”

“We’re here for you,” Stannis whispered to Israfel. “When you’re ready, we’ll go.”

Several long moments later, Israfel nodded slowly. The three angels stood, and Israfel hugged each of her sons in turn. “Thank you,” she rasped. “Lucifer asked us to save what they tried to build here. Said they tried to build something good.”

“Izzy,” Fermat radioed. “You okay?”

Gabriel activated his comms. “I think we’ll be okay, Fermat. We’ll explain when we get back--she’s got a lot to process.”

“We’re heading to a nearby structure,” Stannis added. “We’re hoping to get some answers there...but this is definitely something that Jack and Lucifer’s people-- _ our _ people--built.”

Israfel led her sons to the edge of the structure. She looked back over her shoulder to them and nodded, and flicked her hand to draw her cloak in to attach to her extremities. The polymers in the cloak stiffened to form a wingsuit as the hood fitted itself close to her head, sealing itself around her facemask to aid with aerodynamics. The black-dyed layers of silk and flannel were impregnated with a ballistic amrid polymer designed to absorb visible light, sandwiched over a microns-thick layer of eezo. The clasps attached to the collar of the suit, making both garments a matched set that responded to specific body movements.

The archangel launched herself off the edge, followed a moment later by her sons. The three of them soared over the landscape toward the coordinates indicated by the map, pulling up to slow their flight as their cloaks partially detached themselves from their backs to form drag chutes. One by one, each of them landed and rolled forward a couple of meters, then stood as their cloaks went back to normal. A body wearing Initiative armour lay nearby. Stannis activated his OmniTool to scan the body.

“Dusty Kirkland,” he remarked. “Pilot--from Eden Prime. Armour cam indicates that he was shot trying to surrender to unknown hostiles.” He sighed. “Poor bastard. I hope his heaven’s a good one.” 

Gabriel scanned the door in front of them. “According to the data Fermat was able to glean, the Pathfinder team couldn’t get this door open.” The door opened, and he quipped “But of course it opens for us. Go figure.”

“It may have been unable to open because of the atmospheric disturbances,” Fermat offered. “Until Alec Ryder hacked that tower’s systems, it was caught in a feedback loop with the Scourge--perhaps it just couldn’t do anything else?”

“It’s a sound theory,” Israfel replied. “Let’s run with it for now.” She released a mapping drone that rushed through the structure, and checked her OmniTool. “Looks like there’s another door up ahead that’s stopping the drone.”

“Careful,” Fermat said over comms. “I’m reading movement, so be ready in case something tries to jump you.”

“Got it.” Israfel adjusted her hood and walked forward. At regular intervals, pillars popped up from the floor and lit up. “Huh.” The sound of metal on metal sent the three explorers scrambling for cover. A bipedal synthetic came around a corner and approached them. It had two fins rising up from its legs, and a flattened geodesic head atop a thin spine. The synthetic’s legs came to a point, like a ballerina standing on her toes, and were canted to afford proper balance. It scanned the three of them and glowed green, then turned and meandered back the way it came. Israfel and her sons looked at each other, shrugged, and started to follow it. When they rounded the corner, the bipedal machine walked over to a structure in the corner and attached itself to it before falling inert. A panel lit up nearby, showing a series of glyphs.

Gabriel read through the glyphs for a moment. “This...is it just me, or does this almost read like a digitized variant of Enochian?”

Israfel nodded. “It does. In fact…” The archangel reached out to touch the panel, and the glyphs changed into Enochian sigils. “It’s a note in Enochian--to  _ me _ .”

  
  


_ Izzy, _

_ I’m sure you’ll be scanning the daylights out of everything in this place, but I swear it’s not harmful. Sam calls this proof of concept a “food forest”. Jack wants to replicate it all over this Cluster. He really thinks we can do it--and his enthusiasm is pretty infectious. _

_ I’m trying, Izzy. I’m really trying. _

_ L _

  
  


Israfel rubbed the chin of her mask. “So what did you make, brother?” She looked over to her right, and saw a pedestal next to her with what looked like a keyboard composed of hundreds of keys. Some with characters on it, some without. She reached out to touch it, and the keys rippled under her hands as a tingle shot through her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of light and looked up to see a large door opening out into an enormous vaulted chamber hollowed out of the planetary bedrock. Trees and plants of all kinds rose up from platforms in the chamber, tended by more synthetics like the one that still hung on its perch nearby. A set of stairs led downward into the chamber, which lit up as they entered. More plants, flowering and not, floated on a river that meandered through a channel cut in the rock.

“What is it?” Gabriel asked.

“Holy shit--it’s a garden. Completely unaffected by whatever happened outside. But it’s a friggin’ garden--and not just any garden, it’s a rebuild of  _ the _ Garden.” Israfel laughed. “I don’t even believe this. It’s kind of amazing, really.” She descended the steps, and a landing appeared, spawning a series of pathways that spread out through the garden. “Huh.” She popped up another drone and sent it out to map the chamber.

“I can feel eezo in all of this,” Gabriel remarked. “And something else--grace?”

Israfel squatted down and touched the platform underneath her. “Yeah. It’s faint, but it’s there. How in Creation did they do it?” She looked around. One of the floating synthetics hovered in front of her as if waiting for something. She stood and reached up to touch the machine, and it hummed in response, then turned to one side. A fuzzy hologram appeared showing two figures standing side by side.

“She was right, kiddo.” Lucifer’s voice echoed through the chamber housing the garden. “We can make something good.”

“ _ You _ made this,” Jack replied to his father. “ _ You _ made something good. All I did was help plan the layout.” The boy smiled. “But this is just the beginning for our people.” He looked up at Lucifer and said, “We’re not trying to prove anyone wrong  _ or _ right, remember? We’re just trying to make something beautiful of our own.”

Lucifer put an arm around his son. “Good enough for me.”

The holographic recording ended, and the hovering synthetic meandered off.

“Well fuck me running.” Israfel looked to her sons, then back to the garden, and started to laugh. “He did it. He created something for no other reason than to just make something  _ nice _ .” She clapped her hands and looked toward the ceiling of the cavern. “Lucifer, wherever you are, thank you for making me eat my words.” Her OmniTool pinged, and she pulled up the results of her drone’s scan. “Wow, he really did replicate the layout of the Garden, complete with the tree in the center. No animals though.”

Gabriel scanned the tree. “Quinces,” he said. “Or something close to it. Definitely edible, though.” He looked over. “What do you think--should I get some samples to bring back to the  _ Memory _ ?”

“Wasn’t the Forbidden Fruit a quince?” Stannis looked over to his father. “Or am I remembering that wrong?”

Israfel shrugged. “It was just a literary device. The Fall wasn’t caused by eating a fruit--it was Lucifer turning Adam’s first wife into a demon that caused it.” She walked over to the tree. “Looks interesting.”

“Trust but verify?” Fermat asked on comms. “Not detecting any unusual energy signatures--and by “unusual”, I mean “other than what we’ve found already”. So picking some fruit shouldn’t be so bad...I hope.”

“We should be fine.” Israfel reached up and plucked a fruit from the tree. The fruit was firm, with a slightly fuzzy skin. She removed her mask and sniffed the fruit. “A little sweet-smelling, tart undertones, like a cross between a quince and a kiwi.” She picked two more, and put the fruits in a pouch on the side of her suit before replacing her mask. “There.” She walked over to a shrub-like plant and scanned it. “This looks almost like a pepper plant.” She plucked off a couple of bright red pods, and moved to another tree to pick a small fruit with dimpled skin that smelled faintly of citrus.

“Look at this,” Gabriel announced excitedly. “The chemical composition of this plant here indicates that it’s an analog of saffron. And this...holy shit, this is mint--well something close to it anyway.” He looked over to his brother. “Is this supposed to be a food forest?”

“That’s what Lucifer’s note to me said.” Israfel wandered over to another tree planted in sandy soil. “Heh, there’s even a date palm here--or at least something close to it.”

Stannis shrugged in response. “Possibly. By the way, I’m reading human-safe oxygen levels here. Perhaps that entryway is an airlock?”

“Hate to cut this short,” Fermat radioed, ”but there are Initiative shuttles inbound on the planet and it looks like they're headed toward that structure. I’m engaging the drop-shuttle’s autopilot and sending it to your position; be ready to bail in two minutes, unless you want to have a very awkward conversation with whoever’s coming in for a landing.”

Stannis ran up the steps to the airlock passage, followed by his father and brother. The drop-shuttle settled to the ground just as they exited the airlock, and Israfel hopped into the pilot’s seat. The shuttle was built like a cross between a  _ Kodiak _ shuttle from the Reaper War and an oversized skycar, with room for five passengers and a dedicated cargo compartment at the rear. A wide nacelle ran along the top of the shuttle, rather than at the side.

“Activating stealth systems,” Israfel announced as the shuttle began to rise through the atmosphere. “Steering well clear of those incoming shuttles,” she added.

“The Asari Pathfinder’s on one of those shuttles,” Fermat radioed.

Israfel rolled her eyes. “Serissa can kiss my ass,” she snarked. “I never liked her.”

“It’s not Serissa--she’s been replaced by...Vederia Damali.” Fermat’s tone lightened when he mentioned the name. “Oh hey, it’s one of your great-grandnieces!”

A green light on the shuttle’s console indicated that they breached atmosphere; Israfel plotted a heading for  _ Azrael’s Memory _ and engaged the shuttle’s FTL drive. “Remind me to tell Kael about her promotion--he’ll be quite proud of her,” she replied. “But keep an eye on the Scourge. I want to see something.” She stabbed a button, and the drop-shuttle veered toward the Scourge.

The comms erupted with a series of digitized squawks followed by sputtering. “Israfel, are you out of your fucking mind?! You don’t know what will happen,” Fermat protested, “and I’m on a ship with one of the most powerful biotics in the universe,  _ minus _ the migraines that kept him from being able to consistently spike his implant the first time he was alive!”

“No, I don’t know what will happen,” Israfel responded. “But we need to find out if it’s the dose that makes the poison.” She looked to her sons and nodded, then keyed her comms again. “We need to know what we’re up against sooner rather than later.”

The shuttle skimmed near the Scourge. A few feathery tendrils started to snake out toward the craft, and Israfel glowed with grace. The Scourge-tendrils stopped in their tracks. Israfel stopped glowing, and the tendrils started toward the craft again. The shuttle sped up and veered off toward the Consensus’ ark, and after a few moments the tendrils of energy faded.

“Fucking hell….” Fermat’s disgust was palpable. “Israfel I swear to your Father, that was a stupid thing to do.”

Israfel sighed. “It was also necessary. I have a ton of questions now...but at least I have part of an answer.” 


	3. Is There Anybody Out There?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Consensus team heads to Eos, where they have an encounter of the "oops" kind.

**Eos, Pythias System**

**Remnant Vault**

  
  


Israfel touched the haptic panel, and the glyphs resolved into Enochian. “Hmm.” She ran her fingers over the panel and concentrated, feeling the missing letters resolve themselves under her touch. “Orem wrote this.” She opened her eyes and looked over to Kaidan. “Here, see?” She indicated a word on the panel and smiled. “He signed it. He was always given to being flowery.”

Kaidan carefully read over the panel. “It’s...a directory?”

“You’re very close--it tells us what’s here, but more as a general overview rather than a directory.” Israfel smiled. “Enochian is a very contextual language, especially in written form.” She indicated a passage. “This, for example, refers to a ‘font of new life’. But if you look here and here...” She indicated two more passages. “Referring to a place of growth and then to guarding future days, what reads as ‘font of life’ is better translated as ‘seed bank’.” She looked back to her son in law. “Reading ahead is a necessity, when it comes to Enochian.” Israfel patted Kaidan on the shoulder and nodded toward the vault. “Come on--let’s see if we can find that seed bank.”

The pair walked deeper into the structure, when a sigh came over their comms.

“Welp,” Gabriel radioed, “This place has been scrubbed clean.”

Israfel stopped in mid-stride. “You’re shitting me.” She looked to Kaidan and then back over the antechamber. “Son, please tell me you’re shitting me.”

“He’s not,” Stannis replied. “This place functioned as a Library, a seed bank, and a sort of research center. But when the Pathfinder came in here, he hacked the central control system and triggered some kind of intrusion failsafe. The automated systems wiped everything that wasn’t protected, so now the only things left are whatever bits and bobs we can find in rooms that were sealed, along with whatever bots that spawned after the reset.”

“Oh wait!” Gabriel cut in. “Almost forgot, there’s a room here with your name on it--along with ours and Kaidan’s. All the other doors we found were unlocked or had barriers that came down with the hard reset, but this one’s still locked up tight.”

Israfel sighed heavily. “Well, it’s something I suppose.” She looked to Kaidan and shrugged, then keyed her comms. “We’re on the way.” She looked up at the ceiling and whistled. “This is amazing. How much work went into this?”

“This place is pretty incredible,” Kaidan replied, “even if it was scoured by that reset.” He knelt to touch the floor with a bare hand. “I can feel the energy in this place. The dark energy, sure--but I feel something else.”

Israfel took a knee and reached out toward the floor of the vault. “Grace,” she whispered. “Just like on Habitat 7--in fact, it’s stronger here.” She looked over to Kaidan. “Just a bit, but definitely noticeable.” She stood and looked out over the cavern. “This is just fucking amazing. Now I understand how those who arrived at the Consensus after me and the other First Fourteen felt, the first time they saw the Master Library.”

“Really?” Kaidan raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah.” She watched automated caretakers go about their tasks. “I’ll never forget the first refugee we welcomed.” She looked at Kaidan. “We thought they were going to faint when we told them to just…browse and relax.” Israfel smiled. “Koben was their name,” she added. “Before you ask.” She sighed heavily and put a hand on Kaidan’s shoulder. “They gave their life on the SSV  _ Betelgeuse _ while covering your retreat from Earth at the start of the Reaper War. They’d have loved this place.”

Kaidan hugged his father in law. “I’m sorry Izzy,” he whispered.

“No need to be sorry about it,” the archangel responded, returning the hug. “Every last one of us were ready to die for you and the rest of Creation. Still are.” She gave him a slight smile. “We’d better get to that room.”

“Yeah.”

  
  


**Prodromos**

Ryder raised an eyebrow. “Wait,” he said. “You said that somebody went  _ into _ the vault...and they haven’t come out?”

“Yeah.” The survey team member nodded. “Four of ‘em, wearing capes and facemasks. They showed up, one of them nodded and saluted me like this,” he gave Ryder a casual “seeya” salute, “and then they went down into the vault.”

“Did you see where they came from?” Cora asked. “Any vehicles, shuttles, anything like that?” She leaned back against a fabrication unit and crossed her arms.

The surveyor shook his head. “I was recording video of my team's site survey when they literally dropped right down out of the sky.” He activated his OmniTool, and indicated the terminal next to Cora. “Those capes of theirs are pretty fancy, like they have a mind of their own.”

Cora reached over and activated the terminal. The display showed a member of the survey team discussing the results of tests on the waters around Eos’ vault when what looked like a meteor streaked across the sky.

“Freeze frame,” Ryder said. The video froze. “SAM, can you enhance that streak in the sky?”

“Analyzing,” the AI replied. “Analysis complete. Enhancing.” A box appeared around the streak, and expanded to fill the screen. “Enhancing object.” An outline formed around the vague outline of something entering the planet’s atmosphere. “I am unable to enhance any further, Pathfinder.”

Cora leaned in and studied the outline for a moment. “That’s a craft of some kind.” She ran her finger along the lower part of the outline. “SAM, can you extrapolate what it looks like?”

“Negative,” SAM said. “My hypothesis is that an active stealth system is engaged.”

Ryder pursed his lips and scratched his head. “Resume playback.” The streak in the sky faded, and the survey team continued discussing their results. Thirty seconds later, four dark objects appeared in the sky. The video froze and a box appeared around the objects. As before, the view zoomed in to show four forms gliding through the atmosphere in suits of some kind. “High-altitude drop, SAM?”

“Yes. Advancing video.” The team watched the quartet continue their descent before vanishing from view, leaving shimmers in the air. “A visible-light absorption system appears to have been engaged,” SAM explained.

“Advance playback thirty seconds, then resume,” the surveyor said. He looked at the Pathfinder team and said, “You guys have  _ got _ to see this.”

The survey team spun around to face the camera and quickly dove for cover as four black-clad people--clearly humanoid--swooped over their heads and hit the ground feet-first, sliding across the Remnant bridge to the vault in a wide stance with capes billowing out behind them. They stood, their helmets changing to hoods and their capes gathering around them as cloaks. A member of the group gave a casual salute to the surveyors, and the quartet walked down toward the vault entrance.

Ryder watched the scene agape. “Uhh...SAM? Rewind that. I’ve gotta watch that again.” He watched the scene again, eyes wide at the group’s landing. “Wow--that’s...that’s pretty impressive.”

“The rest of my crew are already calling them ‘The Avenging Angels’,” the chief quipped. “If Hayward over there ever decides to get out of the engineering game, he’s got a career ahead of him writing superhero vids about ‘em.” He laughed. “Look out Blasto, am I right? Anyway--we’ve got people watching, and they haven’t left unless there’s some back door that nobody knows about. Even checked the vault door, and it’s wide open.”

Cora quirked an eyebrow. “The return of the Jardaan?” she guessed. “Ready to go when you are,” she said to Ryder.

“Yeah.” Ryder nodded, finally tearing his attention away from the strangers’ sliding action-hero landing. “Has anyone outside this group seen this recording?”

“We haven’t even shown Bradley,” the chief replied. “We wanted you to see it first.”

“Thanks.” Ryder punched in a command on his OmniTool. “If you hear some excited shouting from over by Bradley’s office,” he quipped to Cora, “that’s just Liam.” He smirked and waggled his eyebrows.

Cora slapped her palm with her face. “Oh Scott, you didn’t.”

“Of course I did.” He shrugged. “Let’s go get him and give our vault another look.”

  
  


**Vault**

“This is it?” Kaidan reached out to the locked door. A palm imprint appeared on the door. He felt the tingle of electricity and the warmth of grace as he put his hand on the imprint, which turned green after a second or two. “Huh.”

Israfel silently reached out toward the door, followed by her sons. When all four palm imprints had turned green, the door’s lock turned green and the panels parted. Israfel took a step forward into the room, and smelled something sweet. She sniffed a couple of times and concentrated. “That’s…” She sniffed again, and this time the aroma filled her mouth. “Nougat.” She looked around the room, and took another step. A bitter yeasty flavor coated her tongue, and she made a face. “Beer--that cheap shit the Win…” She started to laugh. “Oh, Jack-jack.” Israfel turned to her companions. “I’m smelling and tasting things that are associated with Jack’s memories.” She turned back and took another step forward, tasted smoky-sour dried limes and roasted lamb, and the smells of cardamom and tangy sumac filled her nose. “The dinner that we made for Jack and Lucifer before they left.” Israfel laughed again. “Remember how we had to teach my brother how to eat?”

Kaidan chuckled. “And he took a fancy to the dried limes that you brought.” He nudged Stannis. “Your mom had to hide them so he wouldn’t eat them all, remember?” Stannis laughed and nodded.

Israfel took another step, and a holographic image appeared in front of her of a young blonde man wearing Alliance duty fatigues. “Jack-jack,” she whispered.

“Hi Aunty.” The image smiled, and Israfel quickly wiped away a tear. “Hi cousins. I hope you made it here okay. This is, of course, a recording.” The holographic Jack let out a heavy sigh. “Its presence means that I’m either incapacitated and can’t tell you where I went, or Grand-pop showed up and decided to kill me again, just to be a dick. Either way, things are bad. As you may have gathered from our distress call...we need your help.” Israfel reached out to the hologram, which shimmered as her hand went through it.

“We’ve created something wonderful here,” Jack said. “Lucifer and I, and the angels and Geth who came with us. We created life.” He smiled. “We call ourselves the Jardaan. We not only created people, but we created a home for the Initiative. Or at least, that was the plan: to be Gardeners to your Librarians, to follow the example you set back in the Milky Way by trying to be better each day than the day before and be good shepherds.” The young Nephilim sighed again, and scratched his brow. “Of course, as we all know no plan survives contact with the enemy. The problem is that we don’t know who the enemy is. They struck without warning, and they want to destroy everything.”

Stannis and Gabriel each put a hand on their father’s shoulder. Israfel put an arm around them, and the boys laid their heads on her shoulders.

“Aunty, Lucifer’s left--he said he’s going to find whoever’s attacking us and get justice for all of us. He said to tell you that you’re right.” The holographic Jack looked back over his shoulder as a Geth hand patted him, and nodded. “Meitner and Pascal are with me,” he said with a sad smile. “We need to go, but we left clues that should help you as you try to find out what happened. I love you, Aunty. And Stannis, and Kaidan, and Gabriel. I...I’ll see you soon, I hope.”

The hologram faded out. 

“Fuck.” Israfel looked around the room and spotted a control pedestal a couple of steps away. She turned to approach the pedestal, and two curved structures arched up from the floor. The ends came together and the whole thing lit up with Enochian sigils. “Well, that’s...” she held out a hand toward the opening formed by the structure, and a web of light formed. The web coalesced into a pool of light shot through with threads of dark energy. “...a Door.”

“This Door looks familiar. Was it somewhere else?” Gabriel asked. He pointed to a couple of sigils. “Look at those sigils there--they’ve been altered. It’s quick and dirty, but...”

“Yeah.” Israfel looked over the altered sigils, and. “Huh.” She caressed one of the Door’s supports, and a sad smile crossed her face. “This is the Door that Azrael and I made in the Winchesters’ Batcave.” She looked back to her sons. “I had no idea they recovered it from the Old Creation.”

The sound of a voice from outside the room broke the archangel’s reverie.

“This room wasn’t active before. SAM?”

“It appears that this is a biometric lock. I can provide more information via the scanner. I am also detecting unknown energy signatures inside the room itself. I advise caution.”

“Fuck,” Israfel whispered. She immediately put on her facemask, and the rest of the team followed suit. “Well,” she whispered through the comms, “time to see where this Door leads. Grab anything not nailed down and let's beat feet.” She activated her OmniTool and quickly typed out a text.

_ Fermat, _

_ Winchester Door is on Eos. Going through it--wish us luck. _

_ I’ll see you soon. _

Gabriel picked up a container and dove through the Door right as the entrance to the chamber started to open. Stannis and Kaidan each grabbed the remaining containers, and Israfel waved them through. The two of them jumped through the Door, leaving the archangel alone in the room. 

  
  
  


**Pathfinder Team**

  
  


“I have bypassed the security,” SAM announced. The door opened to reveal one of the mysterious masked people from the survey crew’s video footage. 

_ Scott, _ SAM said over their private channel,  _ I have pinpointed the energy signature. It is coming from the structure at the back of the room. The glyphs on the structure bear a resemblance to Remnant glyphs. _

Ryder took a step forward. “Wait!” he said, reaching out toward the mysterious person. “We're not your enemy--we only want to talk!”

The masked person shook their head and stepped through the portal, which immediately powered off as the supports quickly sank back into the floor.

“Dammit!” Ryder frowned. He opened his mouth to speak when a voice echoed in his head with the sound of a distant summer thunderstorm.

_ I’ll see you soon. _


	4. Marooned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izzy and the boys get separated. Izzy gets a revelation, and has a reunion.

**Voeld, Nol System**

**Remnant Vault**

  
  


Israfel shuddered at the sudden blast of cold. Her cloak reacted to the bodily response by sending a signal through its clasps to her recon suit to activate the internal temperature controls.

“...come in if you’re there Izzy!” Fermat’s voice buzzed with static. “Fuck me…”

“I’m here Fermat,” she responded. “Where are the kids?” She tapped her facemask, and the heads-up display registered automated caretakers and the ambient temperature. “-40,” she muttered. “Son of a motherless yahg, am I on an iceball?”

“The boys showed up on the ship with several containers of data cores and other high-density archival materials,” the Geth replied. “Where are you?”

Israfel looked around the vault. “I have no idea, but it’s colder than my Aunty’s embrace in here.” She approached an information panel and touched it, and information flowed to her HUD showing a map of the structure. “Jack said that we’d find clues that would help us piece together what happened.” She started walking, hopping over rivers of electrified ferro-fluid and watching the vault’s caretakers go about their work. “I’m heading toward what looks like another sealed archive room. Did you get my message about finding the Winchester Door?”

“I did. Give me a moment, let me see if I can find where you are from your suit's signal.” After several seconds, a short burst of navigation information appeared down the left side of Israfel’s HUD. “Keelah, you’re on the other side of the Cluster!” Fermat hrmmed for a moment. “OK, see if that place has a Door. Gabriel and Kaidan have started digging through the things that you yoinked from Eos, and Stannis is waking up the Urdnots now.”

Israfel nodded. “Got it. I’ll do what I can--but if there’s no Door here, then I have a feeling you’ll have to come get me.”

“Already headed that way,” Fermat replied. “Cloak keeping you warm, I hope?”

Israfel stared up at a gigantic war machine with auto-turrets for arms. “Yeah.” The machine stood inert in front of her, its circuitry lit up in green like the rest of the caretakers in the vault. She gently patted the machine, and it deftly stepped to one side to let her pass. “Thank you,” she whispered to it. The machine let out a rumbling hum and lumbered over to settle into an alcove on one side of the room.

“Somebody there with you?” Fermat asked.

“Nah.” Israfel tapped the side of her facemask to send Fermat an armour-cam photo of the enormous warbot. “Just one of the defense systems. It moved for me, so I thanked it.”

Fermat chuckled in response. “The kids are up now--Li-Li just went trucking down to help Gabriel and Kaidan with the Eos finds.”

“Good. Hopefully we can establish consistent communications with the Milky Way so she can gush to her mom and Aunty Liara about everything.” The archangel smiled and let out a soft sigh. “Hopefully.” She came across a console at the edge of a chasm, and a bridge extended across when she touched it. “Heading across a chasm,” she said. “Are you getting the video feed?”

“Affirmative,” Fermat said. “Please be careful.”

Israfel patted her heart a couple of times. “I’ll do my best, old friend.” She looked over to a floating caretaker that hovered there watching her. She walked over toward it and held out a hand, and the caretaker reached out with one of its tentacles in a form of handshake. More data coursed up her HUD for several moments before the caretaker disengaged and sped off.

“Izzy, what the hell was all that?”

Israfel took off after the caretaker bot. “A data dump,” she said. “I’m chasing after the bot that sent all that to us while you try to sort through it.” She vaulted across a gap between platforms, and watched the bot swoop down toward another chamber. She dove off the edge and spread her limbs, and her cloak immediately went into wingsuit mode. She floated down to the platform, landing with a forward roll. The bot whistled and beeped, then de-rezzed. The door to the chamber opened as Israfel took a step toward it, and several half-pillars rose up from the floor with ornately-decorated boxes on them. “What the…”

“What are those?” Fermat. “That data dump was the bot sending a message to somebody--something--within the Vault, by the way. So be careful.”

“Thanks for the heads-up.” She looked over the boxes, and said “Well, they’re not curse boxes, but....” Each box was marked with a symbol and studded with crystals. “Hmm. Don’t see anything indicating hinges. Perhaps they’re data archives?” She reached out to the box farthest left, and the crystals lit up in red as data began streaming up her HUD. “Whoa! Fermat, you getting this?”

“All of it,” the Geth responded. “Holy shit, this is pretty incredible--it’s data logs from something called “The Meridian Engine”. Perhaps it’s a terraforming device?” After another minute, a tiny hologram of a person popped up atop the box, and Fermat said “Is that Theo?”

“Yeah.” Israfel smiled sadly. “Yeah, it is.”

_ Personal log: Year 2500, Day 214. The terraforming of Voeld is going well. I just wish that Izzy was here to see this, because she’d faint seeing what we’ve built here. Huge fields of flowers, a forest that goes on for days...and the oceans. Teeming with life, and so peaceful. I never fully understood what it was like to just appreciate Creation, until we started our work here in Andromeda. Crick and Franklin have been working with Bartholomew to make more tweaks to the Template, and they’re hopeful that they’ll see results soon. I’ll be heading back there in the next day or two to help with the final trials. _

The image faded. “Huh. Testing the second box.” She reached out to it, and it lit up in blue. “Fermat, what’s this datastream giving you?”

Fermat hummed to himself for a few seconds before replying. “References to a Template. Some...details....” The line went silent.

“Fermat? You there?”

“Yeah,” the Geth said, his voice quiet. “Holy shit--Izzy,  _ please _ tell me there’s a video log.”

Israfel touched the box again, and another holographic image of Theo came up.

_ Personal log: Year 2501, Day 157. We’ve done it. The Template will accept us. We’ll have new vessels--new companions to share all of this with, we’ll be able to greet and shepherd the Initiative when they get here...and our current vessels will be able to retire if they want. I know that Karl would appreciate retirement. _

_ When I was in the Master Library, I met the asari Matriarch Saora. She was the first non-Human to volunteer to be a vessel, and it didn’t end well. But she told me that she didn’t want us to stop trying. Izzy gave us all hope--but Saora matched that hope with possibility. _

_ I came to this Creation as a warrior, a weapon. And now I’m a scientist and a gardener…and it feels good. It feels good. _

The last two boxes didn’t respond when Israfel touched them. A haptic panel appeared nearby, blinking with Remnant glyphs. Israfel reached out to it, and the glyphs resolved into Enochian.

_ Year 15002, Day 66. To whoever finds these: _

_ I’d hoped that I’d finally left war behind when I went through the Winchester Door, but I guess that was too much to ask. Lucifer left days ago, to take the fight to whoever it was that attacked us. Several of our people died in the blast on Meridian Station--Bartholomew, Crick, Hawking, and Inara among them. _

_ We met with Jack just after we got the response from the Consensus--help is on the way, but it’ll take too long to build and calibrate a Door to get them here right away, so we’re forced to wait and hope that they get here in time to save whatever’s left.  _

_ The first two boxes are for any from the Consensus who find this. The last two are locked so that only Israfel and her sons can open them. _

_ I’ll see you soon...I hope. _

_ Theo _

“Fuck. Okay, all four of these boxes need to get packed out of here.” She picked each one of them up in order and started putting them into the satchel at her back. The angel felt the satchel undulate as it absorbed each box into itself, and she suppressed a shudder. “I swear I will never get used to this,” she commented to no one in particular.

“Using the Bag of Holding?” Fermat asked. “Who knew pocket dimensions could be so useful?”

“Yeah. It’s useful, but when it absorbs things like a monster from a horror vid...well.” She tapped a spot on the side of her facemask. “Trying to see if I can spot something out of place.” The HUD popped up a wireframe layout of the room, and started highlighting things in the environment. “Charging stations along the walls, spawn points for the caretaker bots...hmm. No evidence of a Door.” She tapped the mask again, and the wireframe went away. “Dammit.” She sighed and walked out of the room, and scanned the rock walls of the vault’s cavern. “Now to see if I can climb up out of here.” She walked over to the nearest rock face and felt over it with her fingertips. “No handholds anywhere, too high for jump-assist. So how in the fresh frell am I supposed to get back to the exit?”

A rumbling hum made Israfel turn around to see a series of steps rising out of the ferro-fluid. The archangel walked over to the staircase, and put a foot on it. The stairs solidified, and rose towards a spot near the top of the cavern. “The fuck?” She tapped her facemask to activate the scanner, and caught sight of a niche in the wall. Israfel bounded up the stairs two at a time. She removed her mask and got a whiff of ozone and dust in the freezing air, which made her cough a couple of times. “Air’s breathable, but damn is it cold. Also hints of eezo.”

“See if you can get energy signatures,” Fermat radioed.

Israfel put her facemask on again, and listened to it beep as it made contact with her hood’s lining and registered the change in temperature, then fogged and unfogged as her suit’s environmental control system kicked in. “Hmm.” She tapped her facemask twice, and flinched when her vision went white. “Ah, shit!” She crouched down and gripped the edge of the stairs for balance, shook her head a couple of times, then looked again. ”Okay, wasn’t prepared for that.” The suit’s mask adjusted its brightness, and Israfel was able to make out the outline of a human in the niche.

Israfel reached out to touch the outline, and felt warmth on her fingertips through the gloves of her suit. “Grace…” she whispered. “But  _ whose _ ?” She caught sight of a crystal embedded in the wall next to the niche, and reached out to touch it.

_ Israfel. _

A voice echoed in her head, and Israfel looked around. “Theo?” she asked.

_ Yes, it’s me.. _

“Theo,” Israfel whispered. “What happened to you?”

_ I’ve been waiting for you to get here. _ A magnetic field picked up Israfel from the stairs and carried her to a platform that rose up from the ferrofluid in the center of the cavern. She set down, and a bearded dark-haired man spawned in front of her. He was wearing what looked like a cross between a lab coat and a wizard’s robe, and he smiled when Israfel removed her facemask. 

“Hi Izzy.”

“Theo!” Israfel leaped forward to hug her brother, and the two touched foreheads. “I’m so happy to see you, brother--I...I have so many questions for you.”

Theo returned the hug, and Israfel smelled ozone mixed with floral scents and saltwater. “It’s a long story. I’ve been asleep for a while, waiting for you to get here. Did you talk to Orem?”

Israfel blinked. “Orem’s...wait, is he actually _on_ Eos?” She slowly took a breath of the chill air. “Did you all do this?”

“Orem’s part of Eos. Just like I’m a part of Voeld; these vaults are a group effort, though.” Theo pointed up to the distant niche in the wall. “There are others who became a part of their planets as well--the ones that didn’t die fighting, anyway. It’s the only way we could keep the Scourge from destroying everything.”

Israfel. “So that explains the presence of grace--balancing dark with light.”

“Yeah.” Theo spread his arms and turned to show the vault. “We should have done this to start with,” he said softly. “Maybe then our work wouldn’t have been undone.”

“Theo.” Israfel put a hand on her brother’s shoulder. “It hasn’t been undone.” She smiled. “Not totally. The Initiative arrived--they didn’t wake you up when they hit the reset button?”

Theo shook his head. “Yes and no. I mean, I felt something odd, and I felt it when the Engine was brought online, but I didn’t awaken fully until you got here.” He smiled. “Have the Initiative met our children?”

“The Angara? Yes.” Israfel nodded. “The relationship has been...complicated, from what we’ve been able to determine. We haven’t contacted them ourselves yet--we’re trying to find Jack, get ahead of the game a bit first.” She reached behind her back, and drew out one of the boxes from her satchel. “There was a mention of data archives--are these what you were talking about?” she asked.

“They are.” Theo smiled a bit. “I’m glad they’re safe--did you bring Stannis and Gabriel with you?” When Israfel nodded, Theo smiled again. “Good. Two of the boxes are locked to the three of you. If you don’t have all three, well…”

“They won’t open,” Israfel remarked. “Got it.” She chuckled. “Gabriel--our brother--is Speaker now, by the way.” When Theo rolled his eyes, Israfel laughed. “He’s doing just fine,” she said. “He likes the change of pace, and the lack of backstabbing and politicking in the Consensus, but the Council tries his patience just like they tried Stannis’ and mine.” The two laughed, and Israfel sighed. “Do you have any idea where Jack would be?”

Theo shook his head. “We talked to him not long after Lucifer left, when we all decided to lie low and wait for you. But we haven’t heard from him, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Shit. Is there a Door here?”

“No.” Theo shook his head sadly. “The Winchester Door was set to send you here, so your boys are probably somewhere else. I destroyed the Door that was in this facility, so you’ll have to have somebody come get you. There are other Doors, but they don’t have exit points right now.”

Israfel nodded. “Already working on that. The kids are on our ship, and...well.” She scratched her chin a bit. “We’ve got a lot to talk about.”

“There will be time for that now--you need to find Jack first,” Theo gently chided. “He’s the key to everything, Izzy.” He closed his eyes for a moment. “He’s alive, I know that much--but I don’t know where and he hasn’t reached out to us.” He looked over to the caretakers that wandered and floated around the cavern, then looked back to his sister. “The Engine has connected, but it’s only connected to the caretaker units.”

“Got it.” Israfel put her facemask on again. “Fermat, you get all that?”

“ETA twenty minutes,” he said. “Pathfinder is still on Eos trying to figure out how to get the Winchester Door working, and from their chatter it sounds like Orem is at least half-awake and “politely” making clear to them that it’s not going to happen.”

“Can you talk to him?” Israfel asked her brother. 

“We’d need a full connection,” Theo explained, “for anything more than automated swaps of data between Vaults.”

Israfel nodded. “So find Jack, find the Engine--that’s what it’s sounding like.” She hugged her brother, and the pair touched foreheads again. “It’s good to see you again, Theo.” She smiled. “I’ll do my best to not be a stranger. Oh, here.” She took a crystal from a pocket at her belt and handed it to her brother. “This connects to our ship’s comm array.”

“Thanks. But remember that you’ve got your work,” Theo replied. “Please don’t slack on that just to come and have beers with your brother.” He smiled and held out a hand. “Here, I’ll walk you to the door.”

Israfel took her brother’s hand, and the pair floated off of the platform and toward the exit from the main cavern.

“This place is amazing,” Israfel gushed. “Everything that you’ve done here--even covered in ice and snow, this world is beautiful.”

Theo smiled. “Thanks.” Several caretakers buzzed and made other noises, and the pair paused in mid-air as Theo concentrated. “Sorry--temperature increase alerts.” They started moving again. “I don’t want to have the temperature go up too quickly.”

“So this planet will be a snowball for the foreseeable future?” A floating bot idly scanned Israfel as she drifted past, and meandered off to another part of the Vault. “That was odd.”

“Sorry,” Theo gave his sister’s hand a friendly squeeze. “Part of the automated systems--that and I wanted to make sure that you’re doing okay. And yes, it’ll be cold here for a while yet.”

The archangel laughed. “I’m fine--all of this is leaving me with way more questions than answers, though.”

“We’ll get you those answers,” Theo reassured her. “If you brought a Door with you, that’ll make things easier.” They set down in the middle of an antechamber. “I can’t go any farther,” he said softly. “But this will get you to the surface once your boys arrive.”

A soft beep came over Israfel’s comms unit. “Sounds like the drop-shuttle’s already outside waiting for me.” She and Theo hugged again, and she put on her mask. “I’ll see you soon, Theo.”

Theo smiled and watched his sister activate the gravity-lift to the surface. “I’ll see you soon, Izzy.”

  
  


_ Help has arrived. _


	5. It's What We Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Archangel Gabriel gets a pep-talk.

**_Azrael’s Memory_ **

**L5 Lagrangian Point, Nol System**

  
  
  


Israfel took a deep breath and let it out in a slow ten-count. “Welp,” she remarked, looking down at the datapad in her hand, “We have a lot to send home.” Instead of the recon suit she wore on Eos and Voeld, she was now wearing a simple t-shirt and a pair of knee-length shorts and her feet were bare. “Hmm.” She look up toward the ceiling and reached up toward the comm array. The array descended toward her, and Israfel activated it.

“Izzy!” Cadfael appeared in front of her, a broad smile on his face. “How are things in Andromeda, aside from fifty different kinds of strange?” His beard was gone, showing a chiseled jawline that made him look like a hero from an action vid.

Israfel smiled. “Heya Cadfael--how are Liara and the girls?” She keyed her OmniTool. “Got some data coming your way; a lot of it this time.” She shifted her weight a bit and shuffled her bare feet, feeling the texture of the carpet on her soles.

Cadfael keyed the display next to him. “They’re doing great--Nezzy’s made some breakthroughs in the treatment of Ardat-Yakshi Syndrome, Aethyta is settling into her new position as Asari Councilor, and Liara’s eagerly awaiting her first reports from Li-Li.”

“I’ll have them asap!” a young Krogan female called out from a corner of the room where she was sitting with Gabriel and Kaidan.

“Take your time,” Cadfael replied, grinning. “The Clan sends their love, by the way.”

Israfel chuckled. “The kids can’t wait to say hello to Andromeda--Junior’s champing at the bit and checking and re-checking his gear.” She let out a heavy sigh. “But, to business--we found the Winchester Door. It’s on Eos.”

Cadfael’s eyes widened for an instant, and he made a tooth-sucking sound. “That’s...ominous.”

“Yeah. Though how Jack was able to get it, when we were all locked out of the house…” Israfel scratched her head. “The more answers we find here, the more questions those answers raise.”

A crystal blinked green on the comm array, and Fermat paged from the bridge, “Izzy, we’re getting a call from Voeld.”

“I’ve got it.” Israfel reached up and touched the blinking crystal, and made a swiping motion to add the new call to the conversation. “Theo?” she asked. Theo’s visage appeared on the screen next to Cadfael. “Everything okay down there?”

Theo nodded. “I think I have a lead on where to go next. Jack has everything deliberately scrambled to foil pursuers, but Johar managed to contact me.”

Cadfael blinked and raised an eyebrow. “Wait, Theo? I thought…”

“It’s a long story,” Israfel explained. “I included details in this latest data-dump.” She looked to Theo. “Where’s Johar?”

“Elaaden is the name that the Initiative has for the world. She sent some coordinates for you, but she hasn’t been able to do a whole lot even with the Network being re-established, thanks to the centuries of ridiculously high heat.”

Israfel nodded. “Thanks--and how are _you_ doing, now that you’re awake?”

“Better.” He shrugged. “It’s cold, but I’ve been able to resist the urge to jump the temperature up by eighty degrees.” He winked.

“You want me to bring our Forge online? Make some space heaters for you?” Israfel reached for her OmniTool, but Theo shook his head and smiled.

“No need. The temperature’s going up gradually--in about three years or so, though, the people living on the planet will need to start moving up to high ground so they don’t get buried under snow slides.” He put up a hand. “Fair warning.”

“Noted.” Israfel opened her OmniTool and made a memo to herself. “And it looks like our course is set.” She felt the hum of the ship’s engines intensify under her feet. “Li-Li,” she called across the Atrium, “time to go say hello to Clan Nakmor--getter go grab Mordin and Junior.” The young Krogan whooped and sprang out of her seat, almost barrelling over Kaidan as she charged out of the Atrium. Israfel laughed. “Kids,” she quipped. She turned back to her brothers. “Theo--you want to break the news, or should I?”

Theo nodded toward Israfel. “It may go over better coming from you,” he said.

“What news?” Gabriel came into view, sliding in next to Cadfael.

“They cracked The Barrier,” Israfel blurted out.

Gabriel and Cadfael both stared at Israfel, wide-eyed and jaws open. “Wait,” Gabriel said. “The Barrier--you mean…?”

“...they found a way for us to have non-Human vessels,” Israfel replied. “It’ll require more looking into, of course, definitely some tailoring, but--this is huge news for our people.”

“Curiously,” Gabriel quipped in a deep monotone voice, “I look forward to experiencing life as an Elcor.”

Israfel laughed. “That was scary,” she shot back. “And amusing. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. Everything that we’ve found shows that the race that the Barrier was cracked by was one created by the Jardaan.” She nodded toward Theo. “Our people who came to Andromeda with Jack and Lucifer, and those Geth that accompanied them.”

Cadfael keyed a console near him and whistled. “You think there’s a chance that any of our people not trapped in--”

“--merged with,” Israfel corrected. She smiled at Theo.

“Sorry--you think that any of our people not merged with a Vault may be walking among these Angara as one of them? Hiding in plain sight?”

Theo shrugged. “It’s possible. But if they’re out there, they’re staying well hidden from any of us.” He scratched his head. “In any event, I’m going to sign off for now. If I hear anything more that may be of use to you, I’ll be in touch.” The image winked out, leaving Israfel talking to Cadfael and Gabriel.

“Well--that was a bit of a bomb-drop,” Israfel quipped. “Of course, you can imagine how I felt when I found out. And I swear, I thought Fermat was going to faint.” She sighed a bit, and ran a hand through her hair. “So--Let Ruth and Tyl sort through all that data with the rest of the Librarians. I’ve got to get ready to meet the Pathfinder.”

“I’ll see you soon, Izzy.”

Israfel nodded. “I’ll see you soon.”

  
  


**Heaven**

**Comms Room**

Gabriel turned to Cadfael as their sister’s image winked out. “What do you make of all this?”

“I’m hopeful.” Cadfael ran a hand through his thick red hair. “I know Kael will find the news bittersweet, but Saora will be overjoyed, so at least that’ll make him feel better.” He rubbed his chin. “The rest of the Consensus, though? Eh, we’ll just deal with it like we do. Some debating, a bunch of arguing, probably some hurt feelings here and there--but we’ll work it all out. I mean, when Izzy wanted to have a kid with Hannah and Steven, we argued about it for months. And even after Stannis was conceived, we still argued.” The red-headed spymaster chuckled. “It’s what we do. But we worked it out--which is also what we do.”

“Gotcha.” Gabriel read through a section of the expedition’s data-dump and let out a heavy sigh. “Izzy warned me that this job wouldn’t be easy,” he said.

Cadfael patted his brother on the shoulder. “And Izzy spoke from experience,” he advised. “If she didn’t think you could handle stuff like this, she wouldn’t have gone to the lengths she did to bring you here.” He smiled.

Gabriel nodded. “Thanks--I’m scared, but...for the first time in millenia, I’m not feeling the urge to cut and run.”

“That’s good.” Cadfael smiled and crossed his arms. “Izzy was the best person to go to Andromeda--and you’re the best person to be Speaker here.” He reached out and tapped Gabriel on the chest. “You’ve got this,  _ and _ you’ve got us. So don’t feel like you have to do everything yourself, okay?”

“Got it.” He looked at the data-stream. “Guess I should read through this.”

“Yep.” Cadfael patted his brother on the shoulder again. “But take your time, okay? Liara and I have a date night, so I’ll leave you to it. If you need me, gimme a holler.” He walked out of the comms room, leaving Gabriel alone with a large screen of data.

“Yeah.” Gabriel sighed heavily. “I’ve got this.” He tapped a key to scroll, and a message popped up:

_ Gabriel, _

_ Eons ago, you told a silly little cherub with a ton of questions that she was afraid to ask “the only thing that fear teaches you is not to do anything.” _

_ That silly little cherub with a ton of questions took those words to heart--and in the eons that followed she helped save the worlds at least a couple times, introduced this world to our people, and broke through a literal barrier to track down her big brother and ask him to come home, despite being scared shitless every time. _

_ I know you’re unsure about whether you made the right decision. But you’re exactly where you need to be--where you should be right now. This Consensus wouldn’t have happened without me telling Dad what he needed to hear, sure--but I wouldn’t have told Dad what he needed to hear if it wasn’t for you telling me what I needed to hear first. _

_ I’ll see you soon, _

_ Izzy _


	6. Interlude: Signs of Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Urdnots and the Consensus are introduced to the Initiative in very dramatic fashion.

**Elaaden, Zaubray System**

**L2 Lagrangian point**

  
  


A star bloomed to life just off the  _ Tempest _ ’s port side, right in the middle of the Scourge arm that covered half the Zaubray system. The star blazed brightly, accompanied by a keening shrill. The comms filled with the calls of the ship’s crew.

“Kallo!”

“Lexi, we need you on the bridge!”

“My ears!”

“What the hell is that?!”

“Attempting to modulate shields,” SAM announced. “Damping audio emulators.”

The keening silenced, and the star moved through the Scourge, burning the cloud away until it approached the planet. As suddenly as it appeared, the star winked out and a flare appeared in Elaaden’s upper atmosphere for a few moments.

Ryder ran out of his quarters and hustled up the ladder onto the bridge. Kallo lay on the deck, eyes tightly shut as Lexi scanned him. “What the fuck is going on?”

“Kallo’s suffering from flash blindness.” Lexi, the asari doctor, looked up at Ryder. “He’s lucky that’s all that happened, judging from the burns around his eyes. He’ll recover.”

Suvi, the science officer, was furiously entering commands on the panel in front of her. “Tracking whatever that was,” she said. “It’s descended to the planet--” She looked up at where the anomaly had come from. “Something’s coming through that hole it made in the Scourge...it’s...a ship.”

The crew watched as a ship slightly larger than the Tempest emerged from the hole in the Scourge. “What the hell…” Ryder blinked and watched as a solar sail unfurled behind the craft, which started to maneuver to the planet’s L4 Lagrangian point.

“We’re being hailed,” Suvi announced. She looked back over her shoulder. “The ship’s identifying itself as the  _ Tuchanka Rising _ .” After a few seconds, she added, “They say they have the Krogan Pathfinder on board.”

“What?” Ryder blinked. “Put them through.”

A young male Krogan in battered crimson armour appeared on the screen. “Hi there!” He saluted and winked. “Urdnot Stannis, Krogan Pathfinder.” He indicated two female Krogan flanking him. “These are my sisters, Liara and Mordin. We’re emissaries from Tuchanka, here to re-establish communications with our brethren in Clan Nakmor.” 

Ryder returned the salute. “Scott Ryder, Human Pathfinder. Does the Nexus know you’re here?”

“The Nexus?” Urdnot Stannis snorted and laughed. “Oh  _ hell _ no--I want to meet with Clan Nakmor first. After that. I’ll meet with you.  _ Then _ we’ll head to the Nexus together.” He grinned. “Meet us at New Tuchanka, Pathfinder. We’ll flatten two pyjaks with one punch.”

  
  


**New Tuchanka**

**Elaaden, Zaubray System**

A small shuttle marked with a stylized thresher maw set down next to the  _ Tempest _ . Several armed Krogan and Initiative militia took up positions near the shuttle as its doors opened and three young Krogan--one male wearing battered crimson armour and two females wearing Krogan-sized tunics in crimson trimmed with blue and black--stepped out.

One of the females activated her OmniTool and started to scan the crowd. She hummed softly to herself and made notes as she scanned, occasionally pausing to scratch her head and adjust the visor she wore. The male stepped forward and stood next to her. “You may want to put the brakes on that Mordin,” he said as he gave his sister a nudge. “You’re making people nervous.”

A male Krogan marched forward and got in the visitor’s face. “Who are you?” he growled. The crimson-armoured visitor smiled.

“Urdnot Stannis,” he announced. “These are my sisters, Mordin and Liara.” A murmur rippled through the Krogan, and young Stannis put up a hand. “Our father and chieftain, Urdnot Wrex, sent us here to establish relations between the Krogan of Andromeda and the Krogan of the Milky Way. Pardon me.” He casually shouldered the Krogan in front of him out of the way. “ _ And _ I’m the Pathfinder that our people should have gotten to start with!”

“Great, another idiot from the Nexus,” another male groused. “All talk, no action.”

Junior stepped to the complainer and delivered a solid headbutt. “Try again?” he narrowed his eyes, and a faintly purplish sheen blossomed over him. The Krogan stood his ground and growled at Junior, who stood silently. “I’m not from the Nexus,” the youngster snapped as he jabbed his challenger in the chest with a closed fist, “and our clan didn’t send us all this way for some overfed pyjak to give us a bunch of static. We’re here to talk to Overlord Morda, and we’re here to help our people. So you can get out of the way or--” he nodded toward Liara, “I’ll turn my sister and her throwing arm loose on you.” 

Liara hefted a rock in one hand and grinned. “Try me,” she snarled at the challenging male. "Punk." She glanced back over her shoulder at the ground team from the  _ Tempest _ , and nudged her brother. “Ryder’s here,” she said.

“Great!” Junior grinned and waved the Human Pathfinder over. “Come on, Pathfinder.” He looked to Liara and said, “Li-Li, you and the humans head over to the Initiative settlement so you can get them caught up on events in the Milky Way. Mordin and I will go talk to Overlord Morda and do the same. Maybe we can find a place to set up the comm buoy while we’re here, so Morda can talk to Mom.” He made his way through the crowd with Mordin in tow as Liara turned and came up the ramp.

“Pathfinder,” she said, extending a hand. “Urdnot Liara, Archaeologist and Bioti-ball fan. It’s good to meet you in person. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover and I'd like to say hello to the folks at the Initiative settlement, so let’s do some walking and talking.”

**_Tempest_ **

**Medbay**

“Hello Kallo.”

Kallo turned toward the voice. “Who’s there?” he asked. “Lexi? Ryder?”

“Lexi’s not in the room at the moment,” the slightly raspy feminine voice said. “Scott’s still on the ground.”

The Salarian felt fingertips gently brush his forehead. “I don’t…” He reached in front of him and felt nothing. He took a couple of gentle swipes, and his hands met with air. “Where are you?”

“I’m here,” the mystery person reassured him. “Not in a corporeal form, but still here. I’m just boosting your body’s natural healing mechanisms.” Kallo heard a sigh, and the voice continued, “I really am sorry about what happened, and I promise you that causing harm was the farthest thing from my mind when I came out of that Scourge cloud in my true form. Your eyes should be fully recovered in about ten days or so. Rest and dark glasses will help the process.”

“Who _are_ you?” The Salarian pilot spun around when he heard footsteps behind him, and gentle hands caught him as he stumbled.

“I told you. I’m a friend,” the voice responded. Kallo felt himself gently guided to a bed. “Truly. Get some rest, Kallo Jath, and let your body heal.”

“But…” He heard the rustling of wings as thunder pealed in the back of his mind.

_ I’ll see you soon. _


	7. Obscured by Clouds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott Ryder and his crew officially meet the vanguard of the Angelic Consensus.

**Elaaden, Zaubray System**

**L3 Lagrangian Point**

  
  


The  _ Tempest _ pulled alongside the dormant Architect. “Well,” Suvi said, “we’re here--but all I see is the Architect.” She looked down at her console. “Receiving new coordinates--it’s a path through the Scourge.” The science officer looked back over her shoulder to Ryder. “I’m not Kallo, but…”

“You’ll do fine, Suvi.” Kallo smiled at his friend from his pilot’s seat. He had a darkened visor over his eyes, a leftover from the injury that had been unintentionally inflicted on him days earlier.

Ryder nodded. “It looks like that hole is still there. We should be able to fit, right?” He bit his lip and watched as the Tempest maneuvered into the gap in the Scourge. A few faint tendrils of Scourge energy trickled out toward the ship, but quickly faded away.

“We’re coming up on…” Suvi’s eyes went wide as she saw a brilliantly-lit craft roughly half the size of the  _ Hyperion _ . Three nacelles arranged around the aft section glowed purplish-white. Glittering filmy solar sails spread out toward the front of the ship from where each nacelle met its neighbour, and threads of energy streamed to each sail like delicate rigging from slightly curved symbol-marked structures on the ship. “Oh my God…”

“It’s beautiful,” Cora gasped. 

Liam whistled appreciatively. “It looks like one of those old sailing ships from Earth. Pretty slick!”

“ _ Azrael’s Memory _ here--we see you  _ Tempest _ ,” a husky voice came over the comms. “A landing platform’s coming down for you.” A platform descended from the ship, with guide lights outlining a landing spot. “Pilot assist is available if you need it.”

Ryder looked over to Suvi and nodded. “Only if you think it’s necessary,” he said.

“Thank you for the offer  _ Azrael’s Memory _ ,” Suvi responded over comms. “But I think I’ve got it.” She deftly keyed commands into her console, and the scout ship maneuvered into position over the platform and set down. “Whew!” The red-headed science officer exhaled heavily.

“That was some great piloting,” the voice on the comms said. Ryder swore he could hear a grin behind that voice. “I knew a pilot back in the Milky Way who’d be quite jealous if he saw that.”

“I’ve got vids,” a digitized voice quipped. “I’ll make sure Joker gets them the next time we call home.”

The husky voice laughed. “Landing sequence complete,  _ Tempest _ . The Shepards are waiting for you in the docking bay.” The platform started to ascend into the ship, and the crew assembled on the bridge to watch. The drop-shuttles sat off to the side, and containers of various sizes were stacked along the walls, restrained by heavy cargo netting.

“I thought it’d be fancier,” Drack grumbled. “Less…”

“Utilitarian?” Jaal suggested.

“Yeah,” Drack replied. “That.”

The Shepard brothers stood by a stack of containers wearing their old Alliance fatigues, chatting as they watched the ship ascend into the docking bay. Stannis activated his comms. “Welcome aboard, Pathfinder team. Whenever you’re ready, my brother and I will give you the five-credit tour.”

Ryder raised an eyebrow. “Where’s Israfel?” he asked.

“I’m in the Atrium,” the archangel replied over comms. “Setting tables for dinner--I’d be a horrible excuse for a host if I didn’t offer our guests something to eat.”

Ryder turned and looked to his crew, and shrugged. “They seem friendly enough...but let’s bring sidearms, just in case.”

  
  


**_Azrael’s Memory_ **

**Atrium**

**Three hours later**

  
  


“So let me see if I understand this right,” Vetra said, counting off. “Your people are refugees from a whole other  _ universe _ , the leader of the Jardaan is the Human Devil, the Geth are not only  _ friendly _ now but a Council race, and there are angels living in the Vaults--”

Israfel chuckled. “The first and third are correct, the second is...well, partly-correct, and the last is still mostly TBD.” She shrugged. “But yeah, that’s about it. Lucifer came to this Creation because he decided that he  _ wanted _ to change.” She looked out the Atrium’s windows and smiled a bit. “He wanted to be a better father to his son than our Dad was to us, and from what we’ve been able to piece together, he was content to be a gardener and just create nice things. But let’s table my brother for now.” She nodded to her older son.

Stannis got up and activated his OmniTool as he walked over to stand with Israfel in the center of the room. A map of the Heleus Cluster came up, with several locations highlighted. “These are the planets that we know have Jardaan installations--Vaults--on them,” he said. Names came up in Enochian next to worlds all over the cluster. “The names next to all of these planets are the names of angels that were at the very least helping to run things on those worlds before the war. We don’t know if they’re all still there, save for Theo, Orem, and Johar.”

Ryder rose from the low table where he’d been sitting with Jaal, and came over to take a look at the map. He indicated the lower end of the Cluster. “Did you make contact with anyone here, on this world?” he asked.

Israfel winced. “We’ve been there, but--well, you saw the damage firsthand. I don’t even know if Malachi survived what the Scourge did to Habitat 7.” She gave Ryder a sympathetic look. “I’m very sorry.”

Liam took a drink from his beer and set the bottle down on the table in front of him. “Well there was that cave we found,” he remarked, “with the tree. And the garden that the Asari Pathfinder found when she went to help with terraforming operations--so maybe he’s still there, but just hiding?”

“Hmm.” Israfel stroked her chin for a moment. “It’s possible.” She tapped Habitat 7 to highlight it. “There, I’ve put it on the list of worlds to revisit.” She highlighted Aya. “Aon is the angel of the Vault on Aya, and he’s apparently keeping a low profile. There are a bunch of other worlds with Jardaan Vaults on them that are still being hammered by the Scourge--that’s something I and my sons are planning to go check out in our true forms.”

Drack hrrumphed. “Don’t forget the Kett,” he grumbled. “They’re still a problem, even with the Archon gone.”

Israfel nodded. “We’ve gleaned as much from Initiative and Angara comm chatter. A lot of what our team is doing is reconnaissance, but when the Kett come back--and they likely will, from what you’ve shared with us--we’ll help however we can.”

“Can you bring anyone else?” Cora asked. “No offense, but three angels, a sentient Geth, and a resurrected L2 sounds more like the start of a joke than an army--even if two of you were SPECTREs.”

Kaidan laughed. “We’re just a recon team,” he quipped, a big grin on his face. “No offense taken, Lieutenant.” He looked to Israfel and Stannis. “Should we tell them about the Door?”

“Door?” Ryder raised an eyebrow.

Israfel let out a sigh and scratched her brow for a second. “Oh boy,” she said. “Well, long as we’re doing the whole exposition-dump thing…” She activated her OmniTool and swapped out the map for an image of the Winchester Door. “This structure that you saw us booking it through on Eos is a Door. We call it the Winchester Door, because it was constructed by me and my twin sister at the home of our friends Sam and Dean Winchester--I thought it was lost forever after Dad had his little snit and kicked us all out of the First Creation, but I guess it wound up here with the Jardaan. Anyway.” 

She tapped her OmniTool, and the Door lit up. “This is what it looks like when active--it sets up a stable wormhole, for lack of a better term; the Doors that the Jardaan built here were for site-to-site transportation, rather than dimension-to-dimension. This specific Door was reprogrammed to send Kaidan and my boys back here, but it sent me to Voeld; that’s where I ran into my brother Theo. I’m not totally understanding how it was reprogrammed, except for the sigils that were altered to reflect my birth world being closed off to us. But really that’s just because I didn’t get a good look at it before you came knocking on the door.” She winked at Ryder.

Jaal tilted his head to the side a bit and asked, “How does it work?”

Israfel smiled. “Doors open what’s best described as a multi-particle QEC that opens a stable wormhole between two points--whether it’s site to site in the material world, or whether it’s from the material world to the extradimensional space that is Heaven. It’s part tech, part “magic”,” she said, air-quoting that last word, “because it runs on a mixture of eezo and grace. We have a Door of our own to set up here, once we’ve found a suitable site--but the drawback to that Door is that it’s between the material world and Heaven. That, unfortunately, means that it’s not usable by mortals; our plan was to use it so that our Librarians could pass freely back and forth.”

“Have you considered Aya?” Jaal asked.

The archangel nodded. “We did, and I am sure that Moshae Sjefa would be overjoyed, but Voeld may be a better option. It had a Door pre-Scourge, but Theo--the angel living in that Vault--destroyed it before he merged with the Vault as a protection measure. If we can set our Door up there and get it dialed in with the Vault’s systems, then we may be able to use it for site-to-site as well as dimension-to-dimension.” She sighed heavily. “Every answer we find brings up way more questions, I swear.”

“The lecture’s all well and good,” Cora snapped, “but it doesn’t answer my question.”

“It does,” Israfel said softly, “But not the way you were expecting, so let me be more direct. Yes, we can bring others--but the people of Heleus, both Angara and Initiative, have shown that they’re more than a match for the Kett. My people are at our best as support personnel--reconnaissance, covert strike teams, and the like. If we find Jack, and if we can wake any surviving Jardaan in their Vaults...”

“Then we’d have some valuable allies,” Ryder answered.

Stannis chuckled. ”You already have allies,” he countered, indicating Jaal. “You’d just have  _ more _ allies.” He looked to his brother, who nodded and smiled at him. “This is normally the part where I’d make a rousing speech about saving the Cluster and all that, but you don’t need to hear that. We’re here to find answers, find my cousin Jack, and keep the vision of the Jardaan alive.” He indicated the guests with his bottle of beer. “All of you are a part of that vision.” He smiled and took a drink.

“So now you’ve got me curious,” Liam piped up. “What exactly  _ is _ Heaven, anyway?”

“The explanation is surprisingly mundane,” Israfel replied. “Heaven is an extradimensional space where our people live, and where the consciousnesses--the souls--of decent mortals go after they die.” She indicated Drack and said, “and that includes Krogan souls.”

“So what about the evil ones?” Drack retorted. “Where do they go?”

“We honestly don’t know,” Israfel said with a shrug. “Hell as it existed in the world of my creation doesn’t exist here, so for all I know those souls are repurposed as the cores of stars or just scattered through the cosmos.” She smiled. “My advice? Don’t worry about it. This life is the one to focus on; do your best, be your best, keep trying to be a better person each day than you were the day before, and the afterlife will sort itself out.”

“Where do we go from here?” Ryder asked.

Israfel tapped her OmniTool to bring up the map again. She highlighted Elaaden. “I took a trip into the Vault on the planet just before you arrived and woke my sister, Johar.” She reached up and expanded the view of the planet to highlight a spot in the desert. “She gave me a set of coordinates here, out in the deep desert. According to her, we can find a path to my nephew’s hiding place in this area.” She looked to Ryder. “She’s still trying to deal with the heat by the way, so she’ll be a little sluggish and barely communicative for a while, even with the temperature on the day side dropping to less-threatening levels.”

Ryder nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind. When did you want to set out for that spot in the desert?”

“Let’s give it twelve hours?” Israfel tapped her OmniTool. “We all get some sleep and go out when we’re fresh?”

“Make it fourteen and you’ve got a deal,” Ryder countered.

Israfel laughed. “Bargained well and done, Scott.” She shook hands with the young Pathfinder. “See you in fourteen hours.”


	8. A Passage of Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Great Worm of Elaaden holds many secrets--one of them is Jack's hiding place.

**Elaaden, Zaubray System**

**Deep Desert**

  
  


Ryder scanned the horizon. “Well we’re here,” he said. “But Israfel doesn’t seem to be here.” He fiddled a bit with his OmniTool, then leaned up against the Nomad. “At least the shields on the Nomad will make sure we don’t get sunburned, right?” The Pathfinder looked over at his Asari companion. “Right?”

“Ugh.” Peebee scrunched up her nose and squinted into the distance. “I really hope this isn’t a wild goose chase.”

“It isn’t,” Israfel’s voice announced on the comms. “Incoming, by the way.”

On cue, a heavy metallic object plummeted from the sky to land next to the Nomad, sending up a large cloud of dust and sand. Fermat stood up and casually saluted. “‘Sup?” The Geth sported a sepia-toned platform, etched with mathematical equations from the human whose name he’d taken. “Izzy and the boys are heading down in the drop-shuttle.”

“No swooping down on us like on Eos?” Ryder quipped.

“Nah.” Fermat activated his OmniTool. “Looks like they’re almost…” he looked up and pointed at a spot in the air. “Here.” A small sleek craft shimmered into view as it descended. It landed near the Nomad, and Israfel got out followed by her sons and son-in-law. The four of them were wearing body armour instead of the recon suits and cloaks they wore the first time they met the Pathfinder team. Stannis’ armour had an N7 badge on it to tell him apart from his brother, and Kaidan’s armour was adorned with swirling fractal designs that shimmered in the sunlight. 

“Hey, Izzy. This is the spot, right?”

Israfel looked out over the sands. “Yep. This is where Johar said to go.” She listened for a moment. “And here it comes.” She walked out to an open spot among the dunes and raised her hands. Electricity arced and crackled over the sands, and the head of the Great Worm of Elaaden rose out of the ground. The enormous Jardaan construct arced through the air and came down to stop before the archangel, four haptic panels appearing in front of a “mouth” that resembled a blunted pyramid.

Ryder and Peebee watched as Israfel approached the mouth of the Worm. “Want us to stay here,” Ryder asked, “Or…?”

Israfel looked back and put up a hand. “Let’s get it open first.” Kaidan, Stannis, and Gabriel walked over, and each of them touched a panel. The panel in front of Israfel blinked, and she touched it. The mouth opened to reveal a cavern, its walls marked with Enochian glyphs. “Well I’ll be…” Israfel took a step over the threshold, and the glyphs lit up as electricity crackled over the outside. “It’s a Door. A mobile Door.” She walked over to the wall and ran a hand over a mathematical formula etched into the rock. “Pascal,” she called out, “You there?”

_ Israfel… _ the digitized voice echoed over the desert. The formula, a representation of a pyramid of numbers, started to glow faintly.  _ Can we stop running? _

The sound of metal striking stone drew the angel’s attention to a Geth platform crumpled on the cavern floor a couple feet away. “Oh,” she sighed. She knelt next to the platform and patted it, then looked around. “We’re here now,” she said. “I’m sorry it took so long, old friend.”

Another digitized voice, this one feminine-presenting, chimed in as a pictogram representing a uranium atom lit up on the wall.

_ We feel the Engine, _ the voice said.  _ But only part of it. _

“It’s not fully activated,” Israfel answered. “We need to find Jack. Do you know where he went?”

_ Intruder! _

The glyphs and etchings in the walls of the cavern lit up, and Israfel felt a surge of energy. She spun around to see a very surprised Peebee frozen in a bubble of energy. “Shit!” Israfel ran toward the entrance. “Let her go! She’s with us!”

_ Intrudermustprotectrunrunrunrunr-- _

“No!”

Israfel reached out toward the young Asari, only for the bubble to burst, blasting both the angel and Peebee back. The young Asari academic flew back and slammed into the side of the Nomad before crumpling to the ground unconscious. The entrance slammed shut, and the Worm of Elaaden submerged into the desert sands once more.

  
  
  


**Ryder**

“Peebee!”

The entrance to the Worm closed with a loud crash, and the construct sank back into the ground as Ryder ran over to his crewmate. The Asari lay crumpled and motionless on the sand, a thin line of purplish blood running down the side of her face from her mouth. Bruises covered her midsection. “SAM, tell Lexi to prep Medbay!”

Gabriel ran over and nudged Ryder out of the way, then gently rolled Peebee onto her back Ryder started to protest when Stannis put a hand on his shoulder.

“We can help,” Stannis reassured him. “We just need some room.” He and Gabriel knelt on either side of Peebee’s body as Ryder stepped aside. The brothers looked at each other and nodded, and held their hands inches over her torso. Light poured from their palms and started to cover Peebee, raising her a few centimeters from the sand. The bruises faded, and the blood seeping from her mouth vanished. She sank back to the sand, and Gabriel gently touched a fingertip to Peebee’s forehead.

Peebee’s eyes fluttered open, and Gabriel smiled down at her. “Do me a favour,” he asked. “Move your feet a little for me.” He looked down to her feet and saw them wiggle. “Thanks. How are you feeling?”

“What happened?” the Asari slowly sat up and looked around. “Where’d it go?” She jumped up and ran over to where the Worm had been, then spun around to look at Kaidan and the Shepards. “Where’s Izzy?” She heard a heavy digitized sigh, and everyone looked over to see Fermat staring out over the desert. The Geth’s shoulders fell, and he let out a heavy digitized sigh.

“I’ll...I’ll be in the drop-shuttle,” he said quietly. He walked past the Shepards, who patted him on the back, and got into the drop-shuttle, closing the door behind him.

  
  
  
  


**Israfel** **  
** **Three days later**

The cavern rumbled as Israfel awoke. She tapped her OmniTool and checked the chronometer. “Three days? Holy shit. Pascal? Meitner? Where are you taking me?” she asked. The cavern was dark, save for the etchings on the wall which hummed and crackled with energy.

_ Safety. _

“But we were already safe!” Israfel protested. “Peebee’s a friend!”

_ Intruder. Protect. Run. _

“Dammit. Where are w--” The sweet spicy aroma of date-filled pastry filled the cavern. “Jack?”

_ Yes. _ The sound of summer rain pattered at the back of Israfel’s mind.  _ This way, Aunty.  _

The far end of the cavern lit up with threads of energy that spun themselves into a pool of eezo-tinged light like the one made by the Winchester Door.

Israfel took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing…” She stepped into the pool, and her vision went dark. She stumbled and rolled forward on a hard surface, springing to her feet and striking forward with an OmniBlade. 

“This  _ better _ not be where I think it is,” she whispered to herself. She took a step forward and tapped a spot on her armour. “Activating armour-cam and voice log,” she said as her eyes began to adjust to the dim light. “Okay, definitely not the Empty, because I can make some features out. Fermat, I really hope you’re getting this. I’m in what looks like another Vault. No caretakers, but the architecture feels roughly the same...” She knelt and removed one of her gauntlets, and skimmed her fingers over the metallic surface of the floor. “Grace is incredibly strong here, so Jack must be close.” She put the gauntlet on again, and activated her OmniTool. “Spawning a map drone.” The drone scooted off, and Israfel sighed heavily. “The last thing I heard before going through that Door was Jack telling me to take it.” She heard the rush of wings and felt a crackle of static, and spun around in the dark. “Jack?”

“Behind you.”

The lights came up as Israfel turned. A young blonde man in a set of Alliance-issue fatigues, stood in front of a raised platform. A long umbilical extended from the platform into the back of his head.

“Jack-jack?”

The young man smiled. “Hi Aunty.”


	9. Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Pathfinder team go to Voeld to meet with Theo, and Israfel resurfaces. Jaal is also gifted in a very unique and special way.

**Voeld, Nol System**

**Remnant Vault**

**3 days after Israfel’s disappearance**

“Well, here we are.” Ryder activated the IFF code that Fermat had given him to reopen the vault door. “You know,” he said as he walked toward the gravity lift, “Israfel did warn us that we may not get far in the Vaults without her around--but I didn’t think it’d be this much of a pain in the ass.” He activated the lift, and he and his squad drifted down into the vault’s antechamber.

“I had hoped that I might have more success,” Jaal added. “But...perhaps the Jaardan in the Vaults are afraid?”

Peebee shrugged. “I don’t know. I just...dammit. I wish I coul--” She looked down as the group approached their destination, and her words trailed off when she saw a bearded human standing there waiting for them, wearing thick robes. The man’s face had several scars on it, and his deep brown eyes were half-closed, making him look sleepy. Peebee immediately reached out to him. “Are...are you real?”

“Yes I am,” the man said. He took Peebee’s hand in his and smiled at her. “My name is Theo--for lack of a better descriptor, I’m the Angel of Voeld. Welcome back,” he said. “You needn’t explain who you and your friends are, Ms. B’Sayle; I know why you’re all here.” Theo beckoned to them as he walked toward the door out of the antechamber. “Come on,” he said. “Hopefully I can help.” Halfway to the door, he paused and turned to Jaal. “You’ve been studying me quite intently Jaal,” Theo remarked. “What’s on your mind?”

“Why are you the only one to speak to us?” the young Angara asked. “And...you and Israfel do not look like Ryder or the Shepards, even though your people were created to be compatible with humans?”

Ryder’s jaw dropped. “Jaal, I don’t thi--” Theo smiled and waved a hand in a gesture of non-concern.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I learned a very long time ago that you won’t learn anything if you don’t ask questions.” He chuckled and patted Jaal on the shoulder. “You mostly answered the first question on the way down,” the angel explained. “When Izzy vanished, the Escape Vehicle--what you know as the Great Worm of Elaaden--sent out an automated distress call. Those of us who haven’t been awakened fully, which is to say everyone except for me, have been keeping a very low profile in response.” He smiled. “And to answer your second question, my Angaran friend: you are a very rare and special person who has the ability to see my true form. I never thought I’d encounter an Angara with that capability--it’s rare even in humans, so you’re truly blessed.” He turned and kept walking, indicating to the group that they should follow. “C’mon.”

“Stannis and Gabriel are different from the rest of Israfel’s and my people, as you may have figured out already. I’ll let them tell that story themselves.” He stopped at the edge of a platform, and a bridge extended out toward a dais rising out of the pool of ferrofluid in the middle of the cavern. The group walked across the bridge to the dais, and Theo reached out to activate a console in the middle of it. A map popped up in front of the group.

“That’s the Meridian Network,” Ryder pointed out. “Why are we looking at it?”

“Watch.” Theo entered in a command, and the display showed Vaults all over Heleus blinking red. “That’s right after our curious Asari here accidentally tripped the intrusion alarm on the Escape Hatch.” He smiled at Peebee. “The Vault on Aya is fully connected to the Engine, so it’s not on alert. But Aon hasn’t been talking to anyone, I’m guessing that he’d rather play it extra-safe in the absence of either a visit from Izzy and the kids or an All-Clear from the Engine.” He looked to Ryder and added, “he was always a little shy.”

Theo pressed a key, and the blinking stopped. “That was a day and a half ago, when we received a Standby signal. And it’s been like that sin--” He was cut short by a few bars that echoed through the cavernous Vault. One by one, each Vault changed from red to green, and the links between them changed from dashed lines to solid connections. “Well then.”

“What was that?” Peebee asked. “It was kind of catchy.”

Theo chuckled. “That’s the All-Clear; a classic Earth tune called  _ The Heat of the Moment _ . Jack chose it as a nod to his foster fathers.”

“The Winchesters?” Ryder raised an eyebrow. “Izzy told us about them.” He looked at the map and pointed at the icon for the Meridian Engine, which had changed to a shining gold symbol. “That’s the glyph on Israfel’s forehead,” he said.

“So it is.” Theo reached out to touch a crystal embedded into the console. Fermat appeared in a corner of the display. The Geth had tinted his platform solid black. “Hi Theo,” he said sadly. “Nothing new, I take it?”

Theo smiled and keyed in a command. “Check your display.”

Fermat looked down and to his right, and looked back to Theo. His eye-flaps slid forward. “That’s not fucking funny,” he snapped. “I-”

“Come on Pierre,” Theo shot back, “you know me better than that. Izzy found Jack and sent the All-Clear.”

“I…Shit.” Fermat reached out to the icon on the map. “I’m sorry, Theo. I’ll tell the boys and let the Pathfinder know.”

Ryder interjected, “The Pathfinder already knows, Fermat. Want us to come pick you up?”

Fermat’s image on the display was replaced by a test pattern bearing the words PLEASE STAND BY. After a few seconds, Gabriel and Stannis appeared in Fermat’s place. “Hey all,” Gabriel said. “Fermat stepped away for a moment, As you can imagine, he’s feeling a little verklempt. We’ll meet you at the Meridian Engine. It’s time for us to say hello to the rest of the Andromeda Initiative.”

“Will he be okay?” Theo asked.

“I think so,” Stannis replied. “He’s taken the last week pretty hard, but I think he’ll be fine once he sees Dad again.” He sighed. “Thanks, Theo. Scott, give us some coordinates and we’ll meet you there.  _ Azrael’s Memory _ out.” The connection closed, and Theo turned to his guests.

“I’ll keep an eye on everything from here,” the angel said. “Need me to walk back to the exit with you?”

Ryder shrugged. “I appreciate the offer, but since it looks like you’ll be busy we should head out ourselves. In any case, I’ll see you soon.” The two of them shook hands, and Theo watched the Pathfinder team until a soft beep at the console drew his attention. He reached out and touched the slowly blinking crystal on the console, and Fermat appeared before him.

“Did you know?” the Geth asked.

Theo shook his head. “Of everyone in this Cluster not named Stannis, Gabriel, or Kaidan, I know how much Izzy means to you. If I’d known where the Escape Hatch led, I’d have told you immediately.”

“Fine.” Fermat sighed. “I just...I hope she’s okay.”

Theo smiled and shrugged. “Izzy’s the only one who had the power to send out the All-Clear. She wouldn’t have done it if she wasn’t in one piece.”

Fermat slid his eye-flaps forward and dimmed his optics to imitate narrowing his eyes. “She’s not part of the Engine now, I hope.”

“No,” Theo reassured his old friend. “She’s definitely  _ not _ part of the Engine.” He scratched his brow and sighed. “But while you’re here, Fermat...I’ve been investigating the Scourge more now that I’m awake. Satisfying my curiosity more than anything. What I’m finding is disturbing, especially when I factor in the data that the Pathfinder’s given us about the Initiative’s arrival in Heleus.” He waved his hand over part of his console. “I’m sending you what I have. Tell me what you think.”

Fermat burbled and vocalized to himself in Geth as he skimmed through the data. His eye-flaps raised, and he blinked. “You want me to keep this to myself?”

“For now,” Theo said. “All that we have is conjecture. We need more evidence before we can put together a solid case.”

“Fair enough.” Fermat nodded. “We’re en route to the Engine now--I’ll see you soon, Theo.”

Theo nodded. “I’ll see you soon.”


	10. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Izzy, Theo and Cadfael and Gabriel, Izzy and the ground.

**Israfel**

  
  


“You have no idea how relieved I am to see you,” Jack said. He spread his arms, and Israfel ran forward to grab him in a bear-hug.

“Jack-jack,” Israfel whispered, eyes brimming with tears, “Thank Creation!”. She kissed the boy on both cheeks and hugged him again. “Your father left messages asking me to find you, and I have so many questions.”

“Welcome to the Meridian Engine, Aunty.” Jack took a step back, and sat on the platform. “I hope I can help find the answers--here, let me brighten the place up a bit.” He made a sweeping gesture, and the walls were replaced by sunlit greenery. He made another gesture with the fingers of his right hand, and the view changed to an aerial perspective. “This is the point of view of one of the Architects.”

Israfel looked around at the expanse, and saw a structure embedded in the side of a cliff. “Jack,” she asked, pointing. “Is that Ark  _ Hyperion _ over there?”

Jack nodded. “It is. It crash-landed here after the Kett used it as a sort of human shield,” he said. He patted the platform, and indicated a small headrest with what looked like a network connection embedded in it. “You could say that I had a front-row seat, even though I was asleep at the time.” He smiled, and looked up at a spot near the ceiling. “Wait one,” he said distractedly. The scene shifted to a first-person view of an Initiative shuttle approaching. Jack smiled softly and made a couple of delicate motions in the air in front of him. The view dipped slightly, and the shuttle waggled a bit before veering off. “This is a daily occurrence,” Jack explained, still staring at the spot on the wall. “That’s a security team.” The scene shifted to a pair of smugglers attempting to cut into a structure on the ground. In a flash of light, the smugglers were encased in what looked like gemstones. “Those two fools are always trying to see what they can get away with--I think it’s become a game with them. They’re just in a stasis--they’ll be fine.” The shuttle set down, and the security team stepped out of the shuttle, led by an Asari. 

“Serissa Theris,” Israfel spat. “Great fighter, smart as a whip, but fuck me her arrogance always drove me up the wall.”

“She let her Pathfinder die,” Jack remarked, his voice a little sad. Israfel watched as Serissa activated her OmniTool to release the smugglers from stasis so her team could take them into custody. “A good many innocents died because of her actions. Her service here is her atonement.” The scene shifted to another aerial perspective, and Jack focused his attention back to his guest. “Let me provide context,” he said. “Serissa was feeling a bit lost after what they’re calling the Battle of Meridian; she helped secure victory against the Kett, but found herself an outcast among her fellow Asari because she’d abandoned Matriarch Ishara to die rather than helping her escape from the Kett. I followed your example and offered her a chance to reinvent herself...and I just realized that I’m being a really poor host. Here.” He waved a hand toward a spot a few feet away from his dais. A small table appeared with a variety of different snacks on it. “In case Addy’s hungry.”

Israfel smiled and took a step toward her nephew so she could kiss him on the forehead. “It’s been a few days since we’ve had more than a couple handfuls of dates,” she said. “So thank you.” She stepped down from the dais and walked over to pick up a fruit from the table. “This looks like one of the quince-analogs from the Cave Garden on Habitat 7.” She held it up and looked at Jack with a curious expression on her face. “Do I have to peel it to get this fuzz off, or can I eat it like this?”

“The fuzz is a natural insulation against frosts,” Jack explained. “It’s edible, but super-bitter. If you don’t want the bitterness, just rub the skin lightly and the fuzz will come off. Then you just eat it like an apple.” He pulled his knees up and rested his arms on them. “So how was your trip?”

Israfel rubbed the skin, and the fuzzy outer skin of the fruit sloughed off in tiny bits that floated to the floor and disappeared. She walked back to the dais, and sat next to Jack on the platform. “Not as long as the trip the Initiative had,” she said, taking a bite from her fruit, “but it was still way the fuck longer than I wanted it to be.” She sighed heavily.The fruit was sweet with a tart afternote. Israfel took another bite, then set the fruit down. “I wish I could have gotten here sooner.”

Jack leaned against his aunt, who put an arm around him. “You’re here now,” the boy said. “That’s the most important thing.” The two embraced, and Jack let out a heavy sigh. “I’m scared, Aunty,” he said softly. “We took a lot of damage, and I don’t know if we can rebuild or fend off whoever attacked us if they come again.”

“I know hon,” Israfel whispered. “I’m scared too. But like you said--I’m here  _ now _ .” The chamber vibrated and hummed, and a rainbow appeared in the Engine’s skies. She kissed her nephew on the top of his head and whispered “Love you, Jack-jack.”

“Love you too, Aunty.” Jack pointed to the rainbow. “You made that rainbow, by the way. It means that the All-Clear’s been sent.”

  
  
  


**Cadfael**

_ Cads, _

_ I’d promised Theo that I wouldn’t say anything until we had more info--but I also promised Izzy that I’d help her find out what happened to the Jardaan...so I’m keeping a promise by breaking a promise. _

_ Look over this and tell me if I’m nuts for being more than a little wigged out by it. _

_ F _

“Hmm.” Cadfael took a drink from the beer next to him and started to read through the data that Fermat sent. “Well  _ that’s _ interesting.” A glyph in the middle of one section blinked at him. The spy reached out and touched it, and the glyph vanished. “The fuck?” He scrolled back and forth to try to redraw the glyph to no avail, and he heard a chuckle behind him.

“Oh Fermat...why am I  _ not _ surprised?”

Cadfael turned to see an image of Theo standing there with a wry smirk on his face. “Theo, how did…?”

The Angel of Voeld chuckled again. “I had a feeling that our Geth friend would ask for your help,” he said. “So I set up an easter egg that only you would be able to find and activate.”

“A hidden comlink?” Cadfael pulled up a bench. “Very clever.” He sat down, facing his brother, and stretched his legs out before scrolling down a bit farther. “So what exactly am I looking at here?”

“The Scourge wasn’t a spur of the moment thing,” Theo explained. “Thanks to Scott Ryder, we’ve got evidence that it was at least several hundred years in the planning--”

Cadfael looked up from the datapad in his hands after reading further. “--and the  _ Initiative _ was the primary target?” He sat back and let out a heavy exhale. “That’s...that’s more than a little disturbing.” He reached for his beer and drained it.

“Agreed. And since the one being that can best answer questions about it is no longer among us...”

“Yeah.” Cadfael ran a hand through his hair, and rubbed his face. “Well, fuck.” He tossed the datapad on a nearby console, and reached into a mini-fridge for another beer. “Okay, I’ll pass this to Tyl and see if he can get a few of the Librarians digging into everything we have here. See if we can get something a bit more concrete before involving Gabriel.” He used his thumb to pop the cap off the bottle, and took a swig. “In other news--how are  _ you _ doing?”

Theo smiled a bit. “Izzy sent the All-Clear.” He shrugged a bit. “Not all of us survived the Scourge--but those of us that did are starting to rouse from our long slumber, and we’re trying to recover what we can.” He raised a hand and chided his brother, “and you and I both know that our sister is  _ not _ going to be okay with keeping Gabriel in the dark about this, by the way.”

“In the dark about what?” The rustling of wings heralded Gabriel’s arrival. He opened the mini-fridge and grabbed a beer. “Slide some cheek,” he said as he popped the cap and sat next to Cadfael on the bench. “What’s up?”

“Welp.” Cadfael indicated the datapad sitting on the console. “Since you’re here, and since you’re Speaker now.” He picked up the datapad and handed it over to Gabriel. ”We’ve got an intergalactic mystery--and it starts here, in the Milky Way.” He sighed heavily and took a drink from his beer. The angel rolled the smoky slightly bitter brew over his tongue for a couple moments before swallowing.

Gabriel started reading, then slowly sat up and set his bottle of beer on the console. “So…” he looked over at Cadfael, then to Theo. “You weren’t the target of the Scourge?”

“What we’ve found so far suggests that whoever’s behind this wanted to hurt the Initiative, and that we and the Angara are collateral damage. This is all just preliminary, of course.” Theo took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “It may turn out to be a lot worse.”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “You think Luci reverted to type?”

“Absolutely not.” Theo shook his head emphatically. “And I’d stake my very existence on that. Lucifer took the chance he was given and made the most of every moment. He’s the last one I’d suspect of this.”

“So where is he now?” Gabriel asked.

Theo’s expression darkened a bit. “I don’t know. He spoke to Jack before he left, asked him to have us shelter in place and wait for the cavalry to arrive.” He made a tooth-sucking sound and sighed. “His last message to us...well.” Theo keyed a command into his console, and Lucifer appeared before them wearing Sam Winchester in his old suit of Alliance-issue tactical armor and holding a shotgun. His hair was tied back into a tight ponytail, a few loose dark strands framing his face.

_ My brothers and sisters, _ the Archangel said,  _ Meridian Station was attacked by a weapon of unknown origin shortly after it passed its waning apsis, and there’s a supercharged mass of dark energy spreading rapidly through the Cluster trying to destroy everything that we’ve built...trying to kill off our children. _ He shut his eyes tightly for a moment. _ I don’t have answers for you, but I know that we didn’t come all this way just to have our work get blown to shit. As of right now, we’re at war. Jack will have a plan of action for you, and I sent out a distress call--Israfel’s on her way.  _ His breath caught, and he set his jaw.  _ Be as safe as you can until she gets here. In the meantime, I’m going to track down whoever’s responsible and get some answers...and justice. _

_ I’ll see you soon. _

The image vanished, and Gabriel took a swig from his beer. “Huh.”

Theo nodded and smiled sadly. “Sam was a good influence on all of us.”

Cadfael nodded in agreement. “Azrael would be proud of them both.” He tapped the mouth of his bottle on his lower lip for a moment, then punched in a command on his console. A stocky angel wearing a visor and a Librarian’s smock appeared. Cadfael swiped over the hologram to bring him into the conversation. “Hey there Tyl,” he asked, “how quickly do you think you can get a mortal-compatible Door up and running?”

“Mortal-compatible? As in site-to-site rather than Heaven-to-Earth? Uhh...that would take some doing, even with the data Izzy sent back from Andromeda about the Winchester Door. A lot of the work depends on the destination,” he replied. He stroked his goatee a moment. “And the size, and the distance involved…”

“Human-size, and it’s going to Andromeda. Theo is getting you the exit coordinates.” The red-haired intelligence chief nodded to Theo, who pressed a couple of keys on his console. “You should have them now.”

Tyl blinked. “Err, didn’t Izzy take a Door with--” he looked down at his OmniTool, and his eyes went wide for a moment. “Wait--this is a one-way?”

“For now. We need a few Hidden to gather some data, but Izzy’s currently incommunicado so we can’t use the Door that she took with her--that and it’s Heaven-to-Earth rather than site-to-site. Liara’s going to come with, which is why it needs to be mortal-compatible.” Cadfael looked over at Gabriel and asked, “You cool with this, Gabriel?”

Gabriel saluted with his bottle of beer. “I’m cool with it,” he said right before draining the contents. “Make it so, git ‘er done, and all that.” He smiled and winked. “In other words, you’ve got a green light to do what you need done.”

“And there we have it.” Cadfael smiled and turned his attention back to the Librarian on the screen. “Will you need an extra set of hands?”

Tyl shook his head. “Not for the build, no. It'll just take a bit, that's all.”

Cadfael nodded. “Got it. When you’re done, let me know which of the Hidden you tap to send through, so I can get them read in.” Tyl nodded and closed the connection, and Cadfael pursed his lips a moment. “I really don’t like keeping Izzy in the dark about this,” he said. “But I don’t see that we have a choice in the matter at the moment.”

Theo shrugged. “We do the best we can with what we have,” he said, looking down to something in front of him. “And I just got a ping from Fermat;  _ Azrael’s Memory _ is en route to the Engine with the Pathfinder. I’ll keep you posted.”

“Thanks, Theo. I’ll see you soon.”

“I’ll see you soon.”

  
  
  


**Israfel**

  
  


“So you could only affect the Engine itself?” Israfel asked.

Jack shrugged. “Mostly.” He indicated the headrest on the platform. “The connection hooks into the amp port on my implant.” He tapped the back of his head. “We upgraded my implant when we came here to Andromeda, and I was able to coordinate the Vaults...but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Scourge.”

Israfel nodded and sighed. “Are there any Vaults that haven’t responded to the All-Clear?”

“Malachi hasn’t responded, except for a short auto-acknowledgement.” Jack put his hands up in the air in front of him and made typing motions, his eyes unfocusing. “Some of us are...well.” A tear ran down his face as his voice trailed off, and Israfel reached over to wipe it away. “Thanks. Give me a minute--Incoming connection from Meridian Station...Connected.” His voice was detached, distracted. “Invaders on station. Not Initiative. Not Angara...Attempting to acquire specimens for study.” Jack started to glow, and his movements started to speed up. “Specimens acquired. Incoming hostiles. Angara and Initiative forces moving to intercept. Specimens secured. Hostiles retreating. Moving specimens to holding area. Angara-Initiative joint force starting sweep for additional hostiles. Marking areas of greatest danger.”

Israfel raised an eyebrow. “Jack?”

“Hmm?” He made a gesture that summoned a haptic keyboard, and he started typing. “Incoming sync request from Aya...logged. Data stream from New Garden...logged.”

“Are you okay?” Israfel reached out to him again, and Jack shifted to one side in a blur of motion.

“Receiving datastreams from remaining Vaults...Collating.” His eyes re-focused, and he looked back to his aunt. “I’m fine--just had to focus on some incoming datastreams. Now that the All-Clear’s been sent, everyone still alive is sending huge amounts of data updates. So I had to devote a lot more attention than I normally would to coordinating everything.”

Israfel blinked a few times. “So are you a physical part of the Engine?”

Jack sighed. “Yes and no. I’m connected to it, and now that I’m awake I can control it and the Station. But I don’t need to physically be here to be connected to or aware of the Network--think EDI, rather than Fermat.” He sighed. “It’s a sacrifice I made to protect the Network, after what happened on the Station.”

A gentle chime sounded, and Jack looked up. “And it looks like  _ Azrael’s Memory _ has arrived in orbit, along with the  _ Tempest _ .” He looked back to Israfel. “You’d better head back to the surface--Fermat’s undoubtedly worried sick about you.”

“How will I get back to you?” Israfel asked quietly.

Jack smiled. “I’ll lay out a pathway when everyone’s here,” he reassured her. “I don’t want to act like I’m keeping secrets from the people that the Network was created for.” The two of them embraced, and Jack kissed his Aunt on the cheek. “I really am happy that you’re here,” he said. “It’s been a long three and a half centuries, even if I was asleep the whole time.”

“It’s been too long.” Israfel touched her forehead to her nephew’s. “And I’m happy to be here,” she whispered. She kissed him on the forehead and both cheeks. “I’ll see you soon, Jack-jack.”

“I’ll see you soon, Aunty.”

_ Wait one, transporting you to the surface of the Engine. _

Israfel’s vision went white for an instant, and then she saw sky. She turned her head to see an Architect staring her in the face, and looked down to see that there was nothing but air beneath her. 

_ Oh shit… _

“Jack!” 

Israfel flailed and tried to activate her OmniTool as she saw the ground rushing up at her. She glowed bright white for an instant before she impacted, and her vision went black.


	11. Point Me At the Sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Izzy Met Harry...again. And an old friend shows up.

**Ark** **_Hyperion_ **

**Medbay**

Harry Carlyle scratched his head and looked at the tech next to him. “She fell from the sky, you said?”

“Yeah. That’s what the survey team said when they brought her in. Face-planted right in front of them in a big flash of light, tried to get up, and got maybe half a step before she crumpled.” He nodded. “It’s a miracle she’s still in one piece, much less alive.”

“I’ll say!” Harry made some notes on a datapad. “Thanks, I’ve got it from here.” He tapped a few more notes and activated a log.

“Patient is an unknown human female presenting with multiple deep contusions, breaks in most of her bones, and massive cranial trauma," The doctor dictated in his husky voice. "According to eyewitness reports, our patient fell from the skies of Meridian. And going by these scans, she’s lucky to be alive.” The doctor scanned the unconscious person on the medbay bed. “Patient doesn’t match Initiative databases, calling her Jane Doe for now. Our Jane Doe came in unarmed except for two spiral blades made of solid silver, body armour with various unknown glyphs on it…Scanner’s picking up some interesting energy readings…” He looked down at her and raised an eyebrow. “...and she has a tattoo of some kind on her forehead. SAM, does this match the markings of any known exile groups?”

“No, Doctor Carlyle.” SAM paused. “But the mark does bear passing similarity to Remnant glyphs.”

Harry raised an eyebrow. “Really?” He made more notes. “I…” he paused and looked at his patient again. “SAM, please bring up the initial scans of the patient and cross-reference them with the most recent scan.” He looked over at the monitor, then back to the patient. The bruising on her face was gone, along with the swelling. The medbay scanner indicated that her fractured skull had healed completely. A soft beep on Harry’s OmniTool made him look down to see a text from SAM:

_ Please come to SAM Node. _

Harry raised an eyebrow. “SAM?”

_ I do not believe it would be wise to explain over an open channel. Please come to SAM Node. _

Harry looked over to the tech standing near some supplies. “Hey Charlie, I’m stepping out for a moment. Keep an eye on our Jane Doe, please.” He looked back down at the mystery patient one last time, then turned and walked out of the Medbay.

  
  
  


**SAM Node**

“I’d hoped that introducing your people to the Initiative would go better than our arrival in Andromeda did,” Ryder said with a heavy sigh. “But apparently that’s just too much to hope for.” He leaned back against one of the rails at the side of the room, and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I just…”

Stannis shrugged. “It’ll be fine Scott,” he reassured the Pathfinder. “From the data that SAM’s sent to us, it sounds like Izzy sapped her grace making sure Addy didn’t die from that fall. Gabriel and I can give her a boost, which will heal her injuries and get her back on her feet, but the downside to that is that she still needs to regenerate her grace...and  _ that _ will make things annoying, because she won’t be as effective as she wants to be.”

Kaidan chuckled. “Yeah, Dad gets super-fussy when she can’t help like she wants to.”

“What do you suggest, then?”

“Let her heal at her own pace.” Gabriel said. “All that’s really happened is that formal introductions have been pu--”

The door opened, and the three looked over to see a gray-haired man in a doctor’s smock walk in. He looked around the room with intense blue-gray eyes that were set off by his deep bronze skin, taking in the sight of two strangers--one in N7 armour--talking to the Pathfinder. “Am I interrupting anything?”

“It’s fine, Harry.” Ryder beckoned him in. “I’d like you to meet some new friends--this is Stannis Shepard, his husband Kaidan Alenko, and Stannis’ brother Gabriel. Stannis, Gabriel, this is Doctor Harry Carlyle.”

The brothers shook hands with the doctor, who looked at them and the Pathfinder with a bewildered expression on his face. “Scott,” Harry asked, “What’s going on? Why did SAM ask me to come down here?”

Ryder looked back to SAM. “Go ahead and show him the patient, SAM.”

An image appeared in the middle of the room depicting a muscular humanoid being with a face made of lightning, eyes of golden flame, three immense pairs of wings coming from their back, and a shining golden mark on their forehead.

Harry’s jaw dropped when he saw the mark. “Is this who’s in my Medbay right now?” he asked, casting an incredulous look at Ryder. “Wait. This person feels familiar for some reason--not just because of that tattoo.” The doctor reached out to the image and absently traced the symbol on its forehead. The hologram dissolved into one of Harry’s memories.

_ “This is my true form, Harry. I wanted you to know, before you left.” Her voice rang like distant thunder, her eyes blazed like the morning sun. _

_ “Adi,” Harry said, “I don’t understand.” _

_ “My true name is Israfel. I’m an archangel, and Adi is my vessel. My closest friend and companion. You’re one of the very few mortals who can see me outside of my vessel and not die from the sight--but that’s not the reason why I’m showing you this.” The person that Harry Carlyle knew as Adileh Benson smiled. “I’m showing you this because I choose to. With luck, I’ll get to explain everything to you one day,” she said. “But right now, we both have things we need to get ready for. You have a long trip ahead of you, and I've got a war ahead of me. I don’t want to be a distraction.” She kissed him and touched his forehead with a fingertip. _

_ “When the time comes, you’ll remember this moment--and you'll remember me, though my vessel may not be the same as it is now. Know that I love you, Harry. Be omide didâr.” _

_ He closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, he was alone. _

“That’s…” He turned to look at the Shepards. “What was that?”

Gabriel looked at Stannis and joked, “Looks like we found that old flame Dad can’t stop talking about.” Stannis nodded, and the brothers chuckled. “Say hello--again--to the Archangel Israfel,” Gabriel said. “She’s our father.”

  
  
  


**Medbay**

_ Aunty? _

Israfel’s eyes snapped open. “Jack-jack?” she rasped.

_ Don’t move, _ Jack’s voice echoed in her head.  _ I’m so sorry Aunty, I only wanted to quickly get you to the surface. I forgot to recalibrate. _

The archangel sighed. “It’s okay hon,” she whispered. “You’re not Garrus.”

“No,” Jack replied with a soft laugh as he appeared next to her, “I’m not Garrus. But what happened is still not okay.”

Israfel turned her head a few millimeters to look at her nephew out of the corner of her eye. “I feel like I got hammered by a million Thanix cannons,” she groaned softly.

“Here,” the leader of the Jardaan said, a sad smile on his face. He reached out and touched her forehead, then stroked her hair. “You’ll be a bit low-powered for a while, but your injuries are healed.” He looked over at the tech next to the bed. “He can’t see me, don’t worry.” He kissed Israfel on the cheek and said, “Give it a couple of minutes after I leave, and you should be okay. I’ll see you soon.”

“I’ll see you soon,” Israfel whispered. She closed her eyes as a soothing warmth spread through her body, starting in her chest and spreading through her limbs. She felt bones knitting, cells regenerating.

_ I don’t know about you, _ Addy quipped,  _ but I am officially feeling a billion percent better now. Also, I know I’ve said it before, but Cas and the Winchesters did a good job raising a kid. _

“Oh yeah.” The warmth faded, and Israfel heard her stomach gurgle. “Ugh, I’m hungry.” She slowly moved the bed’s scanner arm to the side, and sat up to look around. The medbay was quiet and mostly darkened, and the tech that had been standing by her bed was over by the Cryo bay.

_ You feeling okay to walk around? _ Addy asked.  _ We made a HALO drop without a chute, you spent all your grace making sure I didn’t get turned into fertilizer, and we required the intervention of our nephew the Meridian Engine to get put back together. _

“We’ll manage,” Israfel whispered to herself. “We’re on the  _ Hyperion, _ I take it?”

A soft ping from near the bed drew Israfel’s attention to a table by the bed. Her OmniTool lay on the table blinking softly. The archangel reached over and picked it up, then put it on. When she activated it, a text popped up.

_ We are in SAM Node. Proceed out of the Medbay and up the steps to the tram, and take the tram to the Habitation Deck of the Hyperion. SAM Node is to the right as you enter the atrium of the Habitation Deck. _

“Hmm.” She looked behind her one last time to ensure that the tech was still preoccupied, then slowly rose from the bed. Her head swam for a moment, and she closed her eyes tightly.

_ Easy now, _ Addy cautioned.  _ We don’t need to be falling over, cos they’ll put us right back in that bed again. _

“Yeah.” Israfel took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she opened her eyes again. “Okay.” She slowly walked out of the medbay, paused to take a look to either side, and carefully ascended the stairs to the tram. She looked over the map of the tram system, selected the stop for the habitation deck, and flopped down into a seat to type out a message on her OmniTool.

_ Fermat, _

_ I’m up. I’ll see you soon. Please don’t yell at Jack, ok? _

_ Izzy _

  
  
  


**SAM Node**

“I think I need to sit down.” Harry parked on a bench. “Or I need a drink. Or both.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Where did that even come from?”

Gabriel smiled a bit. “You relived one of your memories; Dad had just locked it away, that’s all.” He shrugged a bit. “She did the same with Stannis’ and my human parents, and with Stannis after the first time he died, right before he came back from the dead to beat down the Collectors.” He saw the incredulous look on the doctor’s face. “That’s a long story--but the upshot is that your memories of our Dad were just locked away until either she could unlock them  _ or _ you died years from now, at which time they’d be automatically unlocked when you got to Heaven.”

“It’s a lot to take in, I know. Izzy talks about you quite a bit,” Stannis told him. “She’s looking forward to seeing you again, but she didn’t want to just drop in unannounced.”

“Y’know, like she did,” Gabriel quipped. “Too soon?” Stannis elbowed his brother, and they laughed.

Harry let out a nervous laugh. “It’s okay,” he said. “I just…” He looked down at the floor. “I remember everything now, and...well, I don’t know what I should say when I see her again,” he whispered. He looked back up at the image of the archangel who loved him. “I feel like this is going to get complicated.”

The door opened to Israfel standing there in her gray under armour. “It’s always complicated with my people,” she said softly. “Hi Harry.”

“Adi.” Harry stood and nervously wiped his hands on his pants. “Or Israfel. Or…?”

“Hello my love.” Israfel walked over to the doctor and hugged him. “Adi retired a little over six hundred years ago,” she told him. “But she did ask me to give you her fondest. This is Addy, her descendant.”

“What do I call  _ you _ , then?” he asked. “We never did establish that.”

“Izzy is fine,” Israfel replied. “I’m happy to see you again--but I was hoping it’d be under better circumstances.” She gently stroked his forehead, and the pair shared a kiss. “We’ve got a lot to catch up on.”

“And you promised me an explanation.” Harry caressed Israfel’s cheek. “You’re taller,” he joked.

Israfel smiled and winked. “You’re more handsome--and yes, I did promise you an explanation.” She caught some motion out of the corner of her eye, and looked over to see Gabriel rolling his eyes. “I think we’re embarrassing my kid,” she said. “Wh--”

“Incoming transmission from  _ Azrael’s Memory _ ,” SAM announced. “Opening channel.” The image of Israfel’s true form was replaced by Fermat in his “Captain Rannoch'' platform.

Harry tensed, and Israfel gave him a reassuring squeeze. “He’s a friend,” she said. “I promise. Like I said, we have a lot to catch up on.” Israfel turned to face her friend. “I’m okay, Fermat.”

“And thank Creation for that,” the Geth said in a voice heavy with relief. “Jack called before he came to see you. After apologizing to me personally for the better part of an hour, he sent coordinates for a landing spot--Kaidan and I will meet you there. I’m  _ very _ relieved to see that you’re in one piece, and I promise I didn’t yell at Jack...much.” He nodded to Harry. “Hey there, Doc.”

Harry gave Fermat a tentative wave. “Umm...hi?” He raised both eyebrows and looked to Israfel. “Long story?”

“Oh yeah.” She gave his hand a squeeze and looked back to Fermat. “Sounds like a plan, Fermat. Just keep a low profile in case somebody gets the less-than-bright idea to take potshots at you.”

“You got it.” Fermat closed the channel.

Israfel turned back to Harry. “I’d like you to come with,” she said. “We’re not expecting any hostiles, so you should be fine with just a basic medkit.” She winked.

Stannis appeared next to his brother, carrying Israfel’s body armour and blades. “Got your gear,” he said. “Want me to set it down here?” Israfel nodded, and he plopped it on a nearby bench. “It’s been a while since I’ve had to sneak around like the Invisible Man,” he quipped.

“Thanks son,” Israfel said. She walked over and picked up the chestplate, running her hand over the Enochian glyphs inscribed on it before going to put it on. “Give me a couple minutes to get re-kitted,” she said, “and I’ll be set to roll.” She looked back to Harry. “Grab whatever you think you’ll need,” she told her old flame, a slight smile on her face. “We can meet at the Tempest whenever you’re ready.” Harry nodded and quickly exited SAM Node after giving the archangel a quick kiss. Israfel watched him and sighed heavily.

“It’s always complicated with  _ you _ ,” Gabriel commented. He patted his father on the shoulder and kissed her on the cheek.

Israfel sighed heavily. “I know.”

  
  


**Harry**

Harry dug into his locker and got out his armour and undersuit. “Never thought I’d be wearing this again,” he muttered. He quickly stripped down to his briefs and started to dress. His OmniTool beeped at him as he finished fastening the closures on his undersuit, and he tapped it to bring up a video screen showing the Geth that had been in SAM Node. “Hello?”

“Hi,” the Geth said. “So...formal introductions. My name is Pierre de Fermat vas Rannoch, but you can just call me Fermat. Pronouns are he and him. Officially, I’m in Andromeda as an ambassador of the Geth Consensus. Right now though, we’re just two guys talking. Got a minute?”

“Umm…” Harry sat on the bench in front of his locker. “Sure, I guess.”

The Geth let out a digitized sigh. “I can’t even believe I’m having this conversation,” he said. “Look--Izzy and I...The boys may say something to you, because they know how I feel about her.”

“I don’t understand,” Harry said. He raised an eyebrow. 

“I love Israfel.” Fermat sighed again. “I always have.”

“Wait what? Is that even possible?” Harry leaned back against the locker. “Does she know how you feel?”

Fermat nodded. “She’s always known, and yes it’s possible; I’ve never tried to pursue it--our friendship has never been like that, but quite a few of my people have had quite satisfying romantic relationships with non-Geth. Izzy’s one of these types...she cares about so many people, will put her ass on the line for every last mortal in Creation--but she’s only truly given her heart to just three people in her life. You, sir, are one of them. So...please don’t hurt her, okay?”

“I...I really don’t know what to say to that.” Harry put a leg up on the bench, and rested his arm on his knee.

Fermat nodded. “Izzy is my best friend, Doc. I care a great deal about her happiness. Treat her decently, and you can count me as a friend as well.”

Harry considered this for a moment, then he nodded. “I can do that,” he said. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around everything.”

Fermat nodded. “It’s always complicated with her. But just know that she loves you more than anything, she’ll always tell you the truth, and she’ll always make sure that you have a soft place to land when you need it.” The Geth gave Harry a casual salute. “I’ll see you soon,” he said. He closed the connection, leaving Harry sitting in silence.

  
  


**Jack**

Jack lay on his platform, a map of the Heleus Cluster circulating over his head. His eyes were unfocused and distant as he chanted. “Status report incoming...Voeld temperature increased two degrees. Running projections of potential damage to daara at the current rate of increase. Suggest further slowing of increase based on current modelling. Havarl ecosystem stabilizing...registering unstable geological activity in northern sector of primary continent, consistent with malfunctioning Architect. Dispatching Observer units to investigate and repair. Kett incursion, Kadara eastern continent. Dispatching Destroyer squads. Open incoming communication channel.”

“Hey Jack-jack,” Israfel’s voice echoed through the chamber. “We’re here.”

“Hi Aunty,” Jack said. “Connection opened to Eos Architect...activating self-repair program. Taking care of some business, sorry. Connection opened to Elaaden Architect...diagnostic started. The path to get here is pretty straightforward, in contrast to the maze that the Pathfinder had to navigate when he fought the Archon; I’ve gone ahead and lit it for you. Opening link to Kadara Vault. Data sync starting. Incoming message...Hello Andon, yes she’s here. I’ll tell her. Are you feeling better, Aunty? Andon says he looks forward to seeing you when you come to Kadara.”

“I’m much better, hon--and please tell Andon I’ll make sure to visit him soon. You doing okay yourself?”

“I am. Continued Scourge activity in systems Dar’hegah, Civki, Tecunis, Eriksson. Vaults unresponsive.” Jack got a perturbed look on his face. “Dammit. Aunty, would you be able to check on some Scourged vaults for me at some point? Dispatching scout units along projected approach vector of Ark  _ Keelah Si’yah _ to transmit a route around the Scourge, final destination Meridian Engine. Incoming unidirectional Door connection from Milky Way...destination Voeld. Identifying Librarians Tyl, Josiah, Anet, Tasiel. Identifying Intelligence Chief Cadfael. Identifying Doctor Liara T’soni.”

Fermat cut in. “Yeah, about that…”

“You don’t need to apologize for taking the initiative,” Israfel reassured the Geth. “We’d have asked them to come eventually.”

“Joint Consensus and Initiative group approaching. Activating virtual windows. Opening entry point. Identifying Consensus Ambassador Israfel. Identifying SPECTRE Emeritus Stannis Shepard. Identifying Gabriel Shepard. Identifying SPECTRE Emeritus Kaidan Alenko. Identifying Pathfinder Scott Ryder. Identifying Academician Pelessaria B’Sayle. Identifying Jaal Ama Darav. Identifying Geth Ambassador Pierre de Fermat vas Rannoch. Identifying Doctor Harry Carlyle. Disconnecting from hardlink.”

Jack closed his eyes and slowly sat up, trailing his umbilical from the back of his head. The umbilical disconnected and slid back into its port on the platform, and he opened his eyes as the group walked into the chamber. The young Nephilim stood and walked down from his platform to embrace his family members. “You being here means a great deal to our people,” he said to the group. “And to me, especially.”

He waved a hand, and a set of couches and chairs materialized in the chamber, along with low coffee tables and a mahogany bar near one wall. A refrigerator sat next to the bar, and bowls of Heleus fruit appeared on the coffee tables. A view from the outside showed the verdant surface of the Engine from the perspective of a hovering Architect. “There,” Jack said. “The refreshments are all real--you’re welcome to have whatever you like.”

Israfel smiled. “Scott Ryder,” she said, “I present my nephew, Jack Kline; the Heart of the Meridian Engine.” She looked to Jack and said, “I really am feeling better now. Thank you again for the boost.” She kissed her nephew on the cheek and took a step back. “Jack, this is Scott Ryder, the Human Pathfinder.”

“Good to finally meet you in person, Pathfinder.” Jack reached out to Ryder and shook his hand firmly. “I owe you my life,” he said with a smile on his face. “The Archon would have overwhelmed me, were it not for you and your sister rallying the Cluster to fight the Kett.”

“We were fighting for Heleus,” Ryder said. “That included you and your people, even if we didn’t know it at the time.” He looked around the chamber. “You were in here?” 

“I was. Asleep, except for those functions that you awakened by interfacing with the control panels during your fight with the Archon. But now that I’m awake, I can show you around.” Jack put up a hand, and another door opened in his chamber. “This tour will take us back to the surface through a pretty long and winding route, but I want to make sure that I explain everything I can…” Jack’s voice faded as he led his visitors on a tour of the Engine. Harry hung back from the group and slid over to Israfel, who was standing at the bar. 

“So now that we’re mostly alone,” Harry whispered, “How about that explanation?” 

“I see I’m not the only one who skipped the tour.” Israfel smiled at her old flame and gave him a soft kiss before reaching over the bar to pull out two glasses and a bottle of whiskey. She poured a finger in each glass, set the bottle on the bartop, and smiled as she handed a glass to Harry. “It all started about two million years or so ago, in a world where monsters are real and magic is a thing….”

  
  
  


**Voeld, Nol System**

**Theo’s Vault**

  
  


Theo stood at parade rest, watching the visitors approach. Cadfael stopped at the end of the bridge, and he and Theo stared at each other for a long moment before grabbing each other in a warm bearhug. “I’m glad you’re here,” Theo said. “Izzy’s going to need the help.” He hugged each of the new arrivals in turn, and gave Liara a kiss on the cheek. “Welcome to my humble freezer,” he quipped. “Voeld has cold and colder running ice, frostbite on demand, and all the snow you could never want.”

“I like it,” Cadfael chuckled. “Has Izzy made contact yet?” He looked around the cavern. “The maps that she sent do  _ not _ do this place justice, by the way.” He whistled. “Seriously. Cold or not, this is some incredible work.” He turned to Liara. “I’ll talk to Theo, you help everyone set up shop?”

Liara nodded. “Sounds like a plan.” The two kissed, and Liara added, “I’ll see you soon.”

“I’ll see you soon,” Cadfael replied.

Theo chuckled. “Wait until Liara sees Eos. Orem will talk her ear off as he shows her around the Library.” Another bridge appeared, running to another part of the cavern. “Come on, let me show you the command center. It’s good that you’re here now, by the way--Izzy had an accident.”

Cadfael stopped in his tracks. “What?”

“Jack wanted to get her to the surface of the Engine, and he put her just inside the sphere’s boundary by accident. She did a high-speed faceplant and expended almost all her grace keeping Addy from becoming a grease spot.” Theo saw his brother wince, and patted him on the shoulder. “Jack healed her injuries so her grace can regenerate faster,” he reassured his brother, “but she’ll be less than a hundred percent for a while.”

Cadfael laughed. “And she’ll be impossible to deal with,” he cracked. “You know how she gets when she feels useless.”

A chime sounded in the Vault, and Jack materialized in front of the pair. “I heard my name,” he joked. He hugged Cadfael. “Uncle, it’s good to see you again. Gabriel’s bringing the Door from  _ Azrael’s Memory _ to install here, and Aunty knows that you’ve arrived. She agrees that we need all the help we can get. If the Hidden can help us get answers, so much the better. Is uncle Gabriel okay with it too?”

Cadfael nodded. “He is. He’s just sorry he can’t be here.”

“Perhaps one day.” Jack smiled. “I’ve got guests that I’m taking on a tour of the Engine, so I should focus on them.” He looked at Theo. “Thank you for taking the initiative on this.” He looked to Cadfael and added, “We all made a sacrifice when the Scourge hit--some of us made the ultimate one. I know that Aunty wanted to get here quicker, but what matters is that she--and you--are here  _ now _ . That’s the important thing.” He embraced Theo and Cadfael again, and smiled. “I’ll see you soon.”

“I’ll see you soon,” the angels said in unison. Jack vanished, leaving Theo and Cadfael standing on the bridge in silence.

“Welp,” Cadfael said. “I think we should go check out the Command Center.” He looked to Theo, who nodded.

“I’ve got some Serrice Ice Brandy that’s been mellowing there for a couple dozen centuries--hopefully it hasn’t gone to shit while I’ve been asleep.” The brothers laughed, and Theo stopped at a rock face. He put a hand up, and the bedrock changed into a door. “And here we are.” The door opened to reveal an analog of the Map Room from the Master Library. “This command center can be configured any number of ways, but I figured that it’d be easiest to just have it look like the one in the Master Library.” He walked over to a cabinet set into the wall and opened it, and pulled out a bottle and two snifters. He blew some dust off of the bottle. “It’s been a long wait.” He opened the bottle and poured a couple of splashes of the Asari liquor into each glass, then handed one to Cadfael. “Here’s to finding answers,” he said.

Cadfael raised his glass. “I’ll drink to that!” He sniffed the brandy and swished it in the snifter, then took a sip and let the Asari liquor wash over his tongue. “Wow.” He took another sip. “Tastes like...like berries and starlight,” he remarked. “Even better than I expected--that’s a hopeful sign.” He drained his glass and set it down.

“That’s all we need,” Theo replied with a smile. “Hope and a fighting chance.”

  
  


**Elaaden**

**Twilight Boundary**

**Three days after the All-Clear**

The Great Worm of Elaaden rose halfway out of the sands and came down to land with a thump. A wave of sand flew out from each side of the immense construct as electricity crackled over it and its exterior lights flashed. A signal went out through the cosmos.

_ I’m here now. _

A solitary figure in a black hooded duster appeared next to the construct. The figure put their hood back to reveal a man with sandy hair and hazel eyes, his features lined and care-worn. He patted the construct gently, and it sent out one last signal before falling silent forever. The man nodded and looked up to the stars for a moment before putting his hood up and walking off into the darkness, leaving the carcass of the Great Worm of Elaaden lying there in the eternal twilight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be omide didâr is Farsi for "I'll see you soon". Since Izzy's original vessel hails from what is now part of Iran, I figured she'd use Farsi.


	12. Surfacing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Consensus meets the Moshae.

**_Azrael’s Memory  
_ ** **Aya, Onaon System  
** **L4 Lagrangian Point  
** **14 Days after the All-Clear**

  
  


“How are things with Harry?” Stannis looked at his father as he sipped his coffee, and winced as Kaidan gently kicked him under the table.

Israfel smiled and took a sip from her mint tea. “They’re good,” she replied. “We’ve been burning up the Andromeda version of the Extranet with e-mails, and we call when we can. I’m hoping I can get to the Nexus to see him sooner, rather than later.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the comm array blinking green. “We have an incoming call?” She stood up and walked to the center of the Atrium, cup of tea in hand, and reached up to the array. The array descended from the ceiling, and Israfel touched the blinking crystal to bring up the image of a scowling Angara with two long scars down the left side of his face. His skin was sky-blue, with a faintly pinkish area on his forehead. The ice-white sleeves of his outfit contrasted with the turquoise shemagh around his neck and shoulders. 

“You've reached the ACS _Azrael's Memory_ ,” Israfel greeted the stranger. “May I be of assistance?”

“Israfel,” the Angara said in a voice that was much more chipper than his expression implied, “do you have time for a visit from a long-lost brother?”

The archangel took a sip from her tea and grinned. “Well I’ll be.” She looked to her son and son-in-law. “I’ve got a feeling we’re about to find out how Aya remained free from the Scourge,” she quipped. She looked back to the hologram and said, “Sure thing--we’ll lower a landing platform for you.” A small display popped up next to the incoming visitor, showing an approaching Angaran shuttle. “Hey Gabriel,” Israfel said, looking up a bit. “Could you or Fermat please lower Platform 1 for that incoming shuttle? We’re going to have guests.” She looked back to the Angara. “Will it be just you and your vessel?”

“The Moshae is coming with,” he said. “I’ve told her a few things, but not many. But she’s pretty keen to meet you.” He shrugged. “As for my vessel, I’m sure you’ve heard his name before.”

Israfel took another sip of tea and thought for a second. “Efvra de Tershaav, commander of the Angaran Resistance.” She chuckled. “I’m sure there’s a story behind it all. Want me to call you Aon, or Efvra?”

The Angaran shrugged again. “Efvra is fine. I’ve answered to that name for the last six years and change, and I don’t see any reason to stop now. We’re coming in to dock now.”

“Sounds good,” Israfel replied. Israfel looked to Stannis and Kaidan again. “Let’s go say hey,” she said to them. “We’re heading down now,” Israfel said as she turned back to the holographic visage of her brother's vessel. “Fermat and Gabriel are probably on their way too.”

“Already in the bay,” Fermat interjected. “I’d been down there anyway doing an inventory report.”

“On my way now,” Gabriel chimed in.

Israfel smiled. “And there you have it,” she said. “I’ll see you soon.”

“I’ll see you soon.” Efvra closed the connection, and the array rose back toward the ceiling as Israfel walked out of the Atrium with Stannis and Kaidan in tow.

  
  


**Docking Bay**

Fermat set his datapad aside and looked down at his platform, a “stock” Geth Engineer design. “Eh, it’ll be fine.” He shrugged and crossed his arms casually, leaning back against a couple of large crates. “Especially since I’m not the only one dressing down,” he said as Israfel walked in with Kaidan and her sons. The Geth casually saluted, “Hey all. I’ve almost got that stock report done.”

“That’s fine,” Israfel said. “No rush, unless we’re running low on something.” She looked down at her outfit, a simple pair of loose black pants and a long green tunic, and a pair of white slipper-socks on her feet. “I feel underdressed for such an important visitor,” she quipped.

Gabriel shrugged. “From what Scott's told us, the Moshae is a lot like you--not overly concerned with formality. Besides, we weren’t expecting anyone, remember?”

“True, true.” 

The quintet straightened up a bit as the docking platform rose into the bay with the shuttle on it. A door opened, and Efvra got out first, followed by a female Angara wearing a purple headdress trimmed in gold. The headdress was matched with a similar outfit in purple and white. Israfel stepped forward and greeted Efvra Angaran-style, arm cocked with the back of her hand at her brother’s shoulder, before giving him a bearhug. “It’s good to see you again brother,” Israfel said. “I’m just sorry it took us so long.”

“You’re here  _ now _ ,” Efvra/Aon replied. “That’s what’s important. I’ve already talked to Jack; he’s the one who gave me your coordinates.”

Israfel nodded. “Good.” She turned to the Moshae. “You must be Moshae Sjefa.” The archangel bowed slightly. “It’s wonderful to meet you, finally. I’m Israfel. these are my sons, Gabriel and Stannis, my son-in-law Kaidan, and Fermat, a very old and dear friend of mine and my family, and a representative of the Geth Consensus.” 

Fermat gently took the Moshae’s hand and touched his faceplate to it, making a kissing sound as he did so. “M’lady,” he said, winking one of his optics.

“Fermat has a very unique sense of humour,” Israfel quipped. “You’ll come to appreciate it in time. In any event, welcome aboard  _ Azrael’s Memory _ . Come on, I’ll give you the tour.”

Efvra fell in just behind Israfel. “How long did it take to build this?”

“We’d been planning to bring Junior out here so the Krogan would have a Pathfinder, so we’d designed and started building this about ten years before we got your distress call. We finished the initial trials literally the day before we got the call.” She smiled a bit and looked at the Moshae. “It’s the Angelic Consensus’ first large starship,” she said. “We’re rather proud of it.” She looked back to Efvra. “Have you talked to Theo? He’s helping Jack with a census of the surviving Jardaan.”

Efvra nodded slightly. “We’ve chatted,” he replied. “He told me that Cadfael’s here along with a few of the Hidden.”

“Yeah.” Israfel sighed. “It of course wasn’t until  _ after _ we left that the Librarians worked out how to set up a site-to-site Door. We’d have been here a lot sooner if we’d been able to use a Door, but it would have been minus the Urdnots.”

Efvra nodded. “Understandable. You know we have the Winchester Door, right?”

“Yes I do--we found it on Eos; I’m guessing Jack managed to grab it just before Dad booted us all out of the house and locked the door. But thanks to that little discovery and seeing how it was modified, we’ve been able to tweak our Door schematics so mortals can use them without needing special assistance from one of us--which means that Liara was able to come here with Cadfael, and we should be able to bring at least some supply if necessary.” She stopped at the entrance to a room. “This is the first and most important room that I wanted to show you.” Israfel put her palm on the biometric lock, which turned green. “You’ll love this.”

“Welcome,” Israfel proclaimed as the double doors slid apart, “to our ship’s Library.” She led the group inside and activated the lights to show an enormous room lined with shelves. “Four levels tall, and contains the contents of one of our Libraries back home as well as an archive of everything we’ve discovered since arriving here in Andromeda. Everything is on datapad to save space. For displays, we have holoprojectors.” She walked over to a pedestal in the center of the room, took out a blank datapad and set it on the pedestal before entering some commands. After a few seconds, the archangel took the datapad and offered it to the Moshae. “The crystal embedded in the datapad’s top edge,” Israfel explained, “is a communications link to the ship, so you can connect to the Library at any time. Tap it once, and you’re connected to the Library. Tap twice, and the crystal will turn purple--that connects you with us directly.”

The Angaran scientist cradled the datapad in her hands. She activated it, and her eyes lit up. “This is an incredible gift,” she gushed. She looked to Israfel, eyes brimming. “I have no words…” The Angaran scientist clutched the datapad to her chest. “This means so much,” she said. “Efvra said that your people were generous, but...?”

Israfel smiled at the Moshae. “The history of my people, including our past and present in the Milky Way, is part of the history of the Angara. You and your people deserve to have this just as much as anyone else.” A ping sounded, and Israfel looked up. “Another incoming call?” She activated her OmniTool and looked at the origin of the transmission. “Oh, speak of the Nephilim.” She hit a key. “Hey Jack-jack, what’s up?”

“Hi Aunty,” Jack replied. “Theo and I have finished the census; you should be receiving that data shortly.” A heavy sigh came across the line. “We lost a lot of people,” Jack said sadly. “I just hope they didn’t die in vain.”

“They didn’t,” Israfel replied. “Don’t beat yourself up, sweetheart--we’ll pick up the pieces and rebuild.”

After a long pause, Jack replied. “You’re right, but...I guess I’m still grieving.”

Israfel smiled. “That’s perfectly normal. Just remember that you’re not alone in this--you’ve got your people and all of us from the Consensus, as well as the Angara and the Initiative. We’re in this together.”

“Thanks, Aunty--I guess I just needed to hear that. Love you.”

“Love you too Jack-jack,” Israfel replied. “I’ll see you soon.” She closed the connection and looked to the Moshae. “My nephew is the heart of the Meridian Engine,” she explained. “He was asleep during the Battle of Meridian, in the equivalent of a coma--had he been awake, the Archon wouldn’t have lived long enough to even try controlling him.” Israfel motioned for the Moshae to follow. “Efvra,” she said to her brother, “how about you go with Fermat and the kids to check out the rest of the ship? We’ll meet up in the Atrium for refreshments before you leave.”

“Why was he asleep?” She paused at a photo of a post-Reaper scene from Khar’shan, and leaned in a bit to study the Batarians in the photo.

“When the weapon that created the Scourge was set off, Lucifer--Jack’s father--left to find the responsible party and bring them to justice. Jack ordered the Jardaan to go to ground and wait for me to answer the distress call that Lucifer had sent. And those are Batarians,” Israfel explained, indicating the group in the photo. “They’re a very proud people who got the daylights beaten out of them in the Reaper War.” She tapped on somebody in a gray catsuit with a golden mark on his forehead. “That is my brother Kael. He’d gone to the Batarian homeworld after the war to assist with recovery efforts; this photo was taken by a journalist documenting the post-war relief efforts. From what we’ve been able to discover and confirm, the Jardaan didn’t vanish  _ per se _ \--more like they merged with the planets that they were living on, and Jack merged with the Meridian Engine. They started to wake when the Engine came online and reconnected to the Vaults, but the process wasn’t complete until I sent the All-Clear.”

“Except for Aya,” the Moshae replied.

“Aon didn’t go into hiding,” Israfel responded. “But he’d be the one best able to answer that.” The pair walked into the Atrium. “And this is the Atrium. We’ve taken to eating here so we can watch the stars and everything else--this sculpture here,” she continued, pointing up to the web of metal and crystal overhead, “is the ship’s main comm array and holoprojector. Back in the Milky Way, a similar sculpture is in the Atrium of the Citadel, the galactic center of government--and it serves the same function.” The archangel smiled. “Oh here, let me get some snacks--Addy, my vessel, is from a culture that believes in greeting guests with food; you could say that it’s rubbed off on me.” She went behind the bar and dug around in a cabinet for a moment. “Oooh, I’d almost forgotten about these!” 

Israfel brought out a box and opened the lid. She held it out to the Moshae. “Here, try one. These are dates, a fruit from Earth.” The archangel took one. “They’ve had the pits removed, so you needn’t worry about any rude surprises against your teeth.” The Moshae took a date and sniffed at it.

“It smells...sweet. I don’t know that I can describe it accurately.” She took a bite and chewed slowly, then popped the rest of the date into her mouth. When she finished, she smiled broadly. “These are fascinating,” she exclaimed. “Quite rich, compared to fruit here in Heleus.”

“When they’re fresh from the tree they’re quite firm and pale--but when they’ve been dried like this, the sugars intensify and they’re so wonderful.” Israfel smiled. “These particular dates are a variety known as Mazafati. They’re one of my personal favourites, but there are other varieties that are also quite delicious.” She chuckled and set the box on the bartop. “I could talk about dates all day, but you’re not here to listen to me prattle on about desert fruit.” Israfel took another date and popped it into her mouth. 

“The Kett are still a danger,” she observed between bites. “My people are few, but we’re willing to assist.” The angel hopped up on a barstool and indicated the datapad in the Moshae’s hand. “We don’t have raw manpower, but we do have the Unseen. They’re Librarians who specialize in information-gathering. They can go into places where your people can’t go, and that will give the Resistance an intelligence advantage.”

The Moshae looked down at the floor for a moment, then looked back to Israfel. “The Kett are ruthless; whole daara have been destroyed, their people killed outright or taken for exaltation.”

Israfel nodded. “That game  _ will _ change, now that we’re here. I promise. In addition to the Unseen, we also have the Graysuits--angels that are commandos, essentially. You saw Kael, in that news photo; he's their commanding officer. Graysuits specialize in covert operations; guerilla strikes, pirate interdiction, and so forth.”

“You’re very confident in your people.” The Moshae sat on a barstool next to Israfel and set her datapad on the bartop, next to the box of dates.

Israfel smiled a bit. “My visit was originally planned to be a social call, to re-establish ties between our peoples in Heleus and the Milky Way--as well as a diplomatic mission to the Initiative and any races that lived here in Heleus. Lucifer’s distress call made it more of a reconnaissance and--if possible--recovery mission.” She reached over and took the Moshae’s hand. “But having said that; the Jardaan are friends and family to my people, and that kinship extends to the Angara. My confidence in my people is borne of millennia of experience, fighting on the side of Creation. To be quite honest, I see no reason why it would--or should--change.”

The door opened, and Stannis and Kaidan walked in with Efvra. “Fermat’s finishing up the stock check,” Kaidan said. “And Gabriel got a call from Tyl, so he’s helping them calibrate the Door on Voeld.” He spotted the box of dates on the bar, and walked over. “Ooh, may I?” Israfel leaned back a bit, and Kaidan reached over to pick up the box. “Thanks--I love these.” He took a couple of the plump fruits and took a bite out of one, then handed the box to Stannis, who grinned and took a date.

“Care for one?” Stannis asked, offering the box to Efvra. The Angara’s eyes lit up, and he took three.

“Did you bring any Medjools?” He asked. “Those are especially wonderful.” Efvra popped a date in his mouth, and closed his eyes as he munched on the fruit. “Mmm, just as good as I remember.” He looked to Israfel. “But after speaking to my nephews...I think it’s time I come clean. I didn’t get the call to hide--Jack needed one of us to stay and try to find some way to fight the Scourge, so I volunteered.” Efvra turned and looked out to the Scourge. “Feynman integrated himself with the planetary network to keep things going. I kept the Scourge at bay as best I could, preserved Aya as a refuge.” He looked back to Israfel. “You know that grace will push it back, right?”

Israfel nodded. “Oh yeah. I’m sure the story of Junior’s dramatic arrival on Elaaden has made its way around the extranets here, but burning off that much of the Scourge really took a lot out of me.” She looked to the Moshae. “My people don’t normally need to rest, though we often do so for the sake of our vessels’ mental health. Same with eating and grooming. But burning a hole in the Scourge over Elaaden sapped a good deal of my own energy--to say nothing of that fall I took on Meridian.” She winced. “I was pretty tired after that.”

“And you’re an archangel. It took me decades to clear as much as I did around Aya.” Efvra let out a heavy sigh. “But in any event; you’re here now, and we need to be ready for when the Kett come back. Did Ryder tell you about the Kett that offered him a deal?”

“That Primus person,” Israfel snorted. “Yeah, Scott told me about them. They’re going to be a serious threat, especially if they get themselves exalted to Archon.” She pursed her lips and rubbed her chin. “Hmm.” After a few seconds, she snapped her fingers and leaped off her barstool. “Oh crap, I almost forgot! Gabriel,” she called out, “you still talking to Tyl?”

“Just finished,” the younger Shepard replied over the comms.

“Meet me in the drop bay,” Israfel exclaimed. “We’ll grab a shuttle and head to Meridian Station.” She looked at her guests and said, “My apologies for the abrupt subject change--Jack has a couple of Kett in stasis on Meridian Station, and I want to go check them out. I know that studies have been done on bodies, but a live Kett will be much more helpful for the purposes of intelligence-gathering.”

Stannis chuckled. “Kaidan, and I can take over hosting duties from here,” he said with a smile. “I’ll see you soon.” The SPECTRE bowed slight to the Moshae. "Moshae, I'll be glad to show you the rest of the ship if you wish?"


	13. Empty Spaces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exaltation and the Scourge turn out to be so much worse than everyone originally thought. Izzy decides that it's time to officially reveal the Consensus to the Initiative at large.

**Meridian Station/Khi Tasira  
** ******Civki System  
** **16 Days after the All-Clear**

  
  


“There’s the landing platform.” Israfel guided the shuttle in and set it down. “I’m seeing pockets of Scourge energy on the scanner,” she said as she powered down the craft. “It’s pretty localized though. Hmm.” She hopped out and adjusted her recon cloak and facemask. “Let’s see what we can find out.”

The city stretched out before them, towers rising toward the stars like the Citadel’s wards with platforms and walkways connecting them. Caretakers and defence units meandered through the station, tending to plants and repairing damaged sections.

Gabriel nodded. “I think I’ve identified the strongest pocket of Scourge.” He pulled up a map of the station, and marked a spot. “Here. The bots are all avoiding this location. I bet anything that’s where it went off.” He tapped his mask and scanned the city’s horizon. “No signs of Kett--but that doesn’t mean that they won’t come calling at some point.”

“This place is incredible,” Israfel gushed. She tapped a spot on the side of her mask to open a link to the  _ Memory _ . “You getting this?” She tapped another spot. “Jack-jack, we’re on the Station.”

“Connection open,” Jack chanted. “I’ve got you Aunty. No Kett activity detected.  _ Tempest _ is in-system. Hello SAM. I’ve let her know. Incoming datastreams: Voeld, Elaaden, Havarl, Eos, Aya, Ryder-1...hello Malachi, are you doing okay? I understand. I know he’s volunteering, but the Initiative really needs their Botanist on the Nexus. We should find you another option.”

Israfel and Gabriel looked at each other. “What happened to Garret?” she asked.

A heavy sigh came over the line. “Garret didn’t make it,” Jack replied. “Malachi’s been talking to visitors either through his Caretakers or in holographic form.”

She kept walking. An Observer floated past them, scanned them for a moment, then raised a tentacle in a sort of salute before moving on to tend to a nearby tree. “So the Initiative’s Botanist is volunteering to be Malachi’s new vessel? Does he know that he’d be tied to Ryder-1 forever?”

“Malachi,” Jack said, “You did tell Doctor Camden what to expect as your vessel, right? He strikes me as the sort of person who is pretty single-minded about things. Aunty, I recommend going to the Nexus and making contact with the Initiative sooner rather than later.”

“Noted,” Israfel said. “We’re approaching Ground Zero now.” She rounded a corner and pulled up at an enormous cloud of energy. “Holy fuck…” After removing one of her gauntlets, Israfel knelt and touched the floor. “There’s...wait.” She looked over to Gabriel. “This is pretty fucking localized...and concentrated. Tell me if you’re feeling the same thing.”

Gabriel knelt and touched the floor with a bare hand. “It’s…” He stood. “Shit. You remember when Camael stole the grace that was powering K’a’l’s containment unit?”

Oh fuck me…” Israfel stood and activated a drone. The drone floated toward the cloud and started to scan it as Israfel watched the readings scroll up her mask’s HUD. “Dad help us. Jack-jack, was there any investigation into the Scourge?”

“No,” Jack replied. “It spread so quickly, we had no time to do anything but try to preserve what we could. Why?”

“Dammit.” Israfel tapped the chin of her mask to open a new connection. “Cadfael, it’s me--I found Ground Zero. We have reason to believe that the Scourge was created by an  _ Orizaba _ bomb.”

After a long pause, Ryder’s voice came over the line. “Izzy, it’s Scott--I’ve been listening in. What are you talking about?”

The archangel let out a heavy sigh that fogged her mask for a second. “This is going to take some explaining--but until I can give you the history lesson, let’s all be thankful to whatever powers or philosophies we hold dear that Heleus has exactly zero mass relays.” She punched in a couple more commands, and spawned another two drones that joined the first in scanning the area and gathering samples. “Sending you the data Cadfael,” she added as she punched in another set of commands.

After a long pause, a low whistle sounded over the comms. “You’re absolutely sure about this?” Cadfael asked.

“Positive,” Gabriel replied. “A dark matter bomb, designed to be amplified by grace.” He let out a heavy sigh. “This looks like it used to be a laboratory of some sort--who was here when it went off, Jack?”

“Bartholomew, Inara, and Tegron. You don’t think…”

“All Seraphs. Their grace would have boosted whatever was in the bomb,” Israfel commented. “Fuck me…” She dropped to a knee and looked up at the stars. “I’m so sorry…”

“Izzy,” Cadfael said softly, “as the Consensus’ Director of Intelligence, my official recommendation is that it’s time to involve the rest of the Initiative. Liara and I will meet you at the Nexus.”

Gabriel squatted next to his father and put an arm around her. “It’ll be okay,” he said. “We’ll solve this. We’ll find out who did it, we’ll rebuild, and we’ll make everything as right as we can.” He gathered Israfel into a tight hug, and helped her up. “Come on. Let’s let the drones do their work while we go find those Kett.”

Israfel nodded, and she tapped her facemask to re-open her mic. “Jack-jack, where’d you put the Kett you captured?” A nearby Observer pointed toward another section of the Station, and Israfel nodded. “Thank you.” She started walking past a small plot with a leafless tree that emitted spores that twinkled in the starlight, and groups of flowers around its base gave off a soft glow from their translucent petals. “This place is pretty wild,” she remarked. She walked up a ramp to a bridge where three Destroyers had their weapons trained on two Kett encased in faceted stasis fields.

“Looks like one’s a grunt,” Gabriel observed, “and this other one looks like an officer.” He reached out to the grunt, and its stasis field dropped.

“Lutod nyro!” The Kett levelled its assault rifle at Gabriel, and Israfel snatched it out of the Kett’s hands in a blinding flash of movement.

“Hold him,” she said. Gabriel reached out and froze the Kett in place with biotic holds on its limbs, and Israfel removed her gauntlets. She put a hand against the Kett’s armoured torso, and pushed her way through. She felt stimulants and painkillers being pumped into the creature’s system as an automatic response, and continued to feel around until she came to an empty space at the centre of the Kett's being. After a few more seconds of searching, she yanked her hand back, eyes wide under her facemask. “What the…”

“What?” Gabriel continued to hold the Kett.

“He...they...that’s not possible. Get the other one.” Israfel looked to her son. “And pray that I got a false reading.” Gabriel repeated the process, releasing the officer Kett from its imprisonment and holding it in place with a targeted biotic stasis. Israfel reached out and probed the officer, and yanked her hand out almost immediately. “ _ Abominations! _ ” she hissed before quickly smiting the officer. The officer Kett turned into ash and Israfel did the same to the grunt. Israfel put her gauntlets on and turned on her heel as she tapped her facemask. “We have to get back to the ship,” she said. “Stannis,” she ordered, “Send me all the intel we have about the Kett process of Exaltation, stat. Gabriel, I to need you to pilot the shuttle back to the  _ Memory _ \--I’ve got a lot of reading to do.”

Gabriel trotted toward his father. “What the hell is going on?” he asked. He pulled up when Israfel stopped in front of him and spun around.

“They don’t have souls.” She clenched and unclenched her fists. “I just…” Israfel took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I just don’t even know where to begin.” She put her hands on her son’s shoulders. “This is...this is horrifying. I never thought I’d say this, but this is worse than what the Reapers did to people.”

Gabriel nodded. “I understand. We’d better get going.”

  
  


**_Azrael’s Memory  
_ ** **Zheng He System L4 Lagrangian Point  
** **18 Days after the All-Clear**

  
  


“You’re sure about this?” The holographic image of the archangel Gabriel raised an eyebrow and indicated the datapad in his hand.

Israfel nodded. “Yeah.” She grimaced. “Cadfael and I even went Kett-hunting ourselves and grabbed one of their “ascendants” with some help from Jack--not a soul to be found between any of them. Not even signs that they had one and had it removed. Just a big empty void where their soul should be.”

“That’s not good. Did you contact...him?”

“No,” Israfel replied. “I want to leave him out of this for now--I’d rather exhaust all other possible explanations for this before putting out a call.” She sighed heavily. “Anyway. As you can see, I’m in my dress colours today. We’re getting ready to head to the Nexus to say our formal hello. What should I tell them, Speaker?”

Gabriel scratched his forehead and sighed heavily. “You already know the answer to that one,” he replied with a determined expression on his face. “We’ll give them whatever help they need to fight these Kett.” He put the datapad down. “And as for the mystery of the Scourge--we’ll do what we can to help get rid of it...but that doesn’t change the fact that the Initiative was targeted. And you know who the prime suspect is.”

“I know--but I’m not going to say anything one way or another until after I find him.”

_ It’s not Lucifer. _

Israfel looked around when she heard a voice whisper in her ear. “The fu--?”

“Something wrong?” Gabriel quirked an eyebrow.

“No,” Israfel replied. “No. Just thought I heard something.” She pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a heavy sigh of her own. “I’m going to have to get some naptime for Addy soon,” she remarked. "She and I are both running a little ragged."

Gabriel smirked. “You don’t need my permission for that.” He crossed his arms, and the smirk became a wry smile. “So, Ambassador--you ready for this?”

“I was as ready as I was when I first spoke to the Council,” she said, smoothing the front of her ultramarine tunic. “I’ll do my best.” She smiled a bit. “I’ll see you soon.”

“You’ve got this,” Gabriel replied. “I’ll see you soon.” The connection closed.

Israfel turned to see Kaidan and her sons standing there with Fermat. Kaidan, Stannis, and Gabriel were dressed in the same fashion as Israfel; ultramarine tunic trimmed with red silk piping and mandarin collar, sleeves embroidered in swirls of white-gold and deep purple. Their black leggings were festooned with tiny stars in different colours, and Enochian characters in silver. Fermat wore his sepia-toned platform, etched in silver with excerpts from the proof of his namesake's famous Last Theorem. “Well, don’t you all look smashing?” She smiled. “Are we ready?”

The menfolk nodded. “Harry called,” Stannis quipped. “He said he’ll be there with bells on.” He and his brother grinned, and Kaidan rolled his eyes in mock disgust.

“Oh boy,” Israfel shot back. “You two, I swear.” She looked at Kaidan. “Six hundred-plus years,” she quipped, “and you’re not tired of him?”

Kaidan grinned and gave Stannis a kiss. “Nope.” The group walked from the Atrium to the bay. “We’ve got the transit shuttle ready to go,” he said. “This is actually kind of exciting--I’d considered wearing my old Guardian uniform, but then I decided to save it for another time. Being bare chested and rippling with eezo-laced tattoos may send the wrong impression.” He winked.

“We won’t dock with the Nexus until after we’ve formally established relations and gotten their consent of course,” Fermat commented. “But from the chatter I’m picking up, our appearance has definitely caused a stir.”

Israfel gently elbowed her friend. “That’s nothing compared to the stir that you’ll cause when you get out of the shuttle,” she jibed.

Fermat laughed. “True, true. Thankfully, Junior and Li-Li are there to run interference while Mordin casually talks medical arcana with Harry.” In the bay, the transit shuttle was painted in similar colours to Israfel’s dress uniform, with a mixture of pale-gold and deep purple eddies swirling back from the nose of the shuttle to fade into a field of stars. “You like the paint job?”

“Oh Fermat.” Israfel hugged the Geth. “It’s amazing.” The shuttle door opened, and Israfel climbed in. She got in the pilot’s seat, with Fermat as co-pilot while Kaidan and the brothers got in the jump seats. “Activating virtual windows.” The exterior view showed the bay as the shuttle descended on the docking platform. “And here we go.” Israfel engaged the shuttle’s throttle and plotted a course before opening a comm. “Nexus Control," she announced, "this is Consensus shuttle  _ Metatron _ , inbound on heading 357.8; requesting clearance to land.”

“Nexus Control, we read you  _ Metatron. _ You’re clear to land at Docking Bay 23.”

Israfel smiled. “Thank you, Nexus Control. Passenger manifest is being transmitted now; the Krogan and Human Pathfinders should be expecting us.” She entered a couple of commands on the console.

After a long pause, the traffic controller replied. “ _ Metatron _ , uh...there’s a Geth listed on this manifest.”

“That’s correct,” Israfel responded. “Ambassador de Fermat vas Rannoch should have diplomatic clearance courtesy of Pathfinders Ryder and Urdnot.”

“One moment please.” The shuttle slowed in response to Nexus Control’s statement. After a couple of minutes, the traffic controller hailed the shuttle again. “ _ Metatron _ , we’ve verified clearance. You may proceed.”

Israfel keyed the throttle. “Thank you, Nexus Control. ETA 2 minutes.” She turned to face the cabin. “Well, that’s a relief. But we’ll probably have armed guards waiting for us.” The shuttle slowed as Fermat took over and guided the shuttle toward the docking bay. Another shuttle sat on the pad, painted to look exactly like Israfel’s shuttle. “Looks like Cadfael’s here too,” she commented. Cadfael and Liara stood on the pad at parade rest in their own dress garb. The shuttle came in to land, and the door opened.

Israfel and Fermat got out of the shuttle, followed by Gabriel, Stannis, and Kaidan. Cadfael and Liara walked over, and Israfel grinned.

“Izzy!” Liara grabbed her sister-in-law in a bearhug. “The girls send their love.”

Israfel returned the hug. “So good to see you again Liara. My love to the girls, next time you talk to them.” She embraced her sister-in-law again, and stepped back to let the rest of her group get their hugs in.

“This is incredible,” Liara gushed. “The Vaults, the Nexus...I briefly met with some Angara. They’re a truly fascinating people.” She looked over and saw Junior standing there with Ryder and some other officials including the Moshae. Armed guards stood ready, and Liara noticed that a couple of them tightened their grip on their weapons when they saw Fermat. “I suppose we should make our formal introductions?”

“Agreed,” Cadfael added. He bowed slightly and made a slow sweeping motion with his hand. “Ambassadors,” he said to Fermat and his sister. “After you.”

Israfel nodded and walked over to the welcoming committee. “How much formality do we want to stand on?” she asked Ryder with a wink. Junior tromped forward, and he and Israfel bearhugged each other. “You staying out of trouble?” she asked her god-grandson. Junior winked, and went to hug the rest of the group.

Ryder chuckled and shook his head, then turned to the others. “Andromeda Initiative, I present to you our visitors: Pierre de Fermat vas Rannoch, Ambassador of the Geth Consensus and Quarian Assembly, and the Archangel Israfel, Ambassador of the Angelic Consensus.”

Fermat gave everyone a casual salute, and Israfel nodded slightly.

The Moshae stepped forward, and she and Israfel greeted each other in Angaran fashion. “Israfel,” she said with a smile, “It’s good to see you again. These are the other members of the Advisory Committee; Foster Addison, Nakmor Kesh, Tiran Kandros, and Jerun Tann.”

“I'm pleased to meet you,” Israfel said to them as she shook hands. “Truly. These are my sons, Stannis and Gabriel Shepard. My son-in-law, Kaidan Alenko, my brother the archangel Cadfael, and his bondmate, Doctor Liara T’soni. My people look forward to establishing warm relations with the Initiative and Angara, just as we’ve done with the races of the Milky Way.”

Addison, a human woman with hair cut in a short bob, studied Israfel intently before speaking. “I understand that you’ve been here a while,” she mentioned. “Why reach out to us now?”

Ryder indicated the exit from the docking area. “This is going to take a while; we may want to get comfortable.”

  
  


**Nexus, Zheng He system  
** **Pathfinder Hall  
** **1 hour later**

  
  


Ryder sat quietly and listened to Israfel explain the pre-Heleus history of the Jardaan to the Advisory Committee and the other Pathfinders. When the angel finished, he asked, “so are you here to stay then?” He focused just past Israfel’s shoulder at a photo on the far wall and raised both eyebrows. 

“Yes.” Israfel nodded. “That was, after all, what the Jardaan had hoped for when they set out--to re-forge a connection to the Milky Way once they’d gotten established here, to be Gardeners to our Librarians. The surviving Jardaan, as we uncover their Vaults and help them fight back the Scourge, will still be Gardeners tending to the biomes of their planets. As for us, we’re still Librarians; chronicling events and preserving knowledge. What my brethren did in Heleus is for the Angara _and_ for you.” She took a drink of water from the glass in front of her on the table. “We’re here to help keep that dream alive.”

“So that hologram I found in the Garden vault on Ryder-1…” Vederia raised an eyebrow.

“My brother Malachi is a part of the planet,” Israfel explained. “His vessel was destroyed in the storms that battered Ryder-1, which is why he appears in holographic form or speaks through the Caretakers of the New Garden.”

The Moshae blinked. “But if he were to have a new vessel…?”

“He’d still be a part of the planet--he’s tied to it forever and can’t leave.” Israfel sighed heavily. “It’s a sacrifice that the Jardaan made in an attempt to hold back the Scourge.” She scratched her forehead. “That said; I do know that Doctor Camden has volunteered to be Malachi’s new vessel, and Malachi’s more than willing to accept his consent. But even at this stage, I know that the Initiative’s botanist is still very much needed here on the Nexus, so I’ve very gently recommended that Malachi wait a while longer.” Israfel reached over to the pitcher on the table and took it to pour herself some more water.

Addison crossed her arms and tilted her head a bit. “I’m skeptical,” she said. “What can you do that the Pathfinder hasn’t been able to do?”

A nimbus of light surrounded Israfel, and a shadow of wings arose behind her as her mark and eyes burned with holy flame. “Aside from put on a gaudy light show like this,” she explained, “I and my people can go where mortals can’t--there are still worlds affected by the Scourge that no mortal races can access even with the best protective equipment, because of the super-extreme environmental conditions.” She paced a bit, and the wings turned with her. “I can step out of my vessel and access those places in my true form to access the Vaults--there are surviving Jardaan on many of those hostile worlds, but it will take them much longer to restore those planets on their own than it would if I or one of my sons or brethren went to assist.” She dismissed the nimbus, and picked up her glass to drink from it again. “Of course, if you’d rather we stay out of the way and just investigate the Scourge, we’re more than happy to do that too.”

“I didn’t--” Addison started to protest, but Israfel put up a hand and smiled.

“Oh no, it’s fine. I’m not upset,” the angel replied amiably. “I'm putting myself in your shoes: we show up in a fancy-looking ship, and all of a sudden you hear about angels in the Vaults, the Krogan get a Pathfinder, there’s a Garden on the Planet Formerly Known As Habitat 7, and surprise! These newcomers claim to be an ally against the Kett.” She drained her glass and set it down. “After everything that this cluster's been subjected to, it's very normal to be wary. I and my people are more than happy to do whatever you need in order to prove that we are really here to help. We were going to come out here  _ anyway _ , to bring the Krogan their Pathfinder and say hello. Our mission only gained a sense of urgency after we received a distress call from the Jardaan when the Scourge was set off.”

"So...yeah, let's talk about the Elcor in the room." Ryder sat forward. “When you were on Meridian Station, you said something about an “ _ Orizaba _ bomb.” What were you talking about?”

“Oh boy.” Gabriel stood and took a deep breath. “Let me answer that.” He activated his OmniTool to bring up a wireframe image of the Master Library’s containment unit in the middle of the table. “In our Master Library, there was-- _ was _ \--a live Reaper husk in a containment unit. The husk was unique in that it couldn’t be destroyed to free the soul trapped inside; so it was contained instead.” He zoomed the image in to show the unit’s power source. “The containment unit was powered by a combination of eezo and a drop of grace from fifteen Archangels, one of whom was my father.” He nodded to Israfel, and took another deep breath before continuing. 

“At some point before or during the Reaper War, my uncle, the cherub Camael, had become indoctrinated and sided with Cerberus, a pro-human splinter group that was allied with the Reapers. He removed the grace from the containment unit and used it to make a bomb that he and an accomplice intended to attach to the drive core of the SSV  _ Orizaba _ . Had it detonated, the explosion would have have started a chain reaction through the relay network--destroying at least half of the Milky Way.” Gabriel looked around the table for a moment to let it sink in. “And the remainder of the galaxy would be uninhabitable--like the Scourge did here.”

Israfel nodded to Scott. "Which is why I told you that we should all be thankful there are no mass relays in Heleus."

Ryder blinked. “So, what you’re saying is that the Scourge…”

“Came from the same kind of device. There were at least three Seraphs at Ground Zero--they were of sufficient power that their grace alone would have been enough to boost the device, generating the cloud of energy that we see covering a good chunk of the cluster.”

“The only problem,” Israfel interjected, “is that we don’t know the identity of the bomber. Given the amount of grace--raw creative energy--at the epicenter of the detonation, there’s a possibility that it was a suicide bombing.” She sighed heavily. “There are a lot of questions that we have, and we’ve only just begun to scratch the surface.”

Kesh whistled. “Somebody really wanted to take out the Jardaan,” she commented.

Israfel looked to Cadfael and Fermat. They nodded, and she cleared her throat. “They weren’t targeting the Jardaan,” the archangel said. Her voice was grim. “They were targeting the Initiative. The Jardaan and the Angara were collateral damage.” She looked to Ryder for a moment. “Whoever our bomber is or was,” Israfel continued, “they’re playing the mother of all long games, but we have no motive; we don't know _why_ the Initiative was the target. Because of the information we’ve been able to put together, what we’d originally intended to be a social call and diplomatic outreach has...well, it’s a combination of the first two with a search-and-rescue operation and a bombing investigation.” She let out a heavy sigh.

“What is the basis for your theory?” Tann pursed his lips for a moment. “What evidence do you have?”

Ryder stood. “I’ve uncovered evidence that Jien Garson was murdered,” he said. “She had concerns about the Initiative’s “benefactor”, and had discussed them with my father even before the Arks left for Andromeda.” He activated his OmniTool and swapped the image of K’a’l’s containment unit with his scanner images from Jien Garson’s hiding place. “This is where Jien Garson was found--a locked apartment here on the Nexus. She’d been hiding from somebody that she was sure was trying to kill her and use the Scourge as a cover.”

Tann started to speak when Cadfael interjected. “I’d like for one of the Unseen to take a look in that apartment if that's okay with all of you,” the burly angel offered. “They should be able to get additional information that SAM isn’t able to detect.”

The Moshae looked down at the table for a moment. Before she could speak, Kandros reached over and gently tapped her hand. She looked over to him, and he nodded.

“I think it’s a good idea,” the Turian said. “The Scourge always felt to me like it was more than just an unfortunate coincidence, and this new evidence raises some important questions.”

Kesh nodded. “Agreed. I know that if I found out I was the target of something, I'd want to know who it was and why.”

The Moshae looked at Addison and Tann. “I agree as well,” she said. “That is three votes in favour of a broader investigation, I believe.”

Addison nodded. “Make that four votes.” She looked to Tann, who threw up his hands.

“I think this is a waste of time,” the Salarian bureaucrat protested. “Your evidence is flimsy and circumstantial at best. But I’m clearly in the minority here, so I won’t stand in your way.”

Israfel nodded and gave a slight bow. “I accept the judgment of the Advisory Committee.” She bowed slightly, then nodded to Cadfael. “Cads, you are officially a go. And now for the diplomatic part:  _ Azrael’s Memory _ is the flagship of the Angelic Consensus, and not just our embassy but also that of the Geth Consensus and Quarian Assembly. We’d like to dock it at the Nexus if that's okay with y'all. We can help provide power to the station, and it’ll be easier for visitors to access the ship that way.”

“And if we refuse?” Kandros asked. “Having a Geth as part of your delegation is making some of my people nervous.”

"I understand," Fermat said, speaking for the first time. “You’ve had to deal with Kett and the Roekaar, and you left before my people and Quarians settled their differences--so if you don’t feel comfortable with us using a dock, I for one am fine with that. We can just keep hanging out at the system’s L4 Lagrangian Point when we’re not in other systems, and we’ve got a docking bay where we can receive visitors and trading ships.” 

Israfel activated her OmniTool, and OmniTools around the table lit up. “I’ve also just given the Initiative access to our ship’s Library, as a gesture of good will and good faith. It's open to all who come seeking knowledge, especially the Angara.”

“Even the Roekaar?” Ryder raised an eyebrow.

“The Roekaar will get the information one way or another,” Israfel answered with a slight shrug. “Your mercy toward Akksul when he threatened Jaal ama Darav made a positive impression from what I understand; so I think that Efvra's work to bring them around will eventually bear fruit. Besides, they may be fanatics, but they're still Angara. They have just as much right to the history of the Jardaan and their own people as others.” 

The archangel walked to the window and stood at parade rest as she looked out over the Nexus. “Heleus was meant to be a gift to Angara  _ and _ Initiative," she explained. "The Jardaan--the Gardeners--came here because they wanted to create something beautiful. And they did. They created life on the worlds of the Cluster, including the Angara. The Scourge was meant to destroy or render it unusable, but that attempt failed. We--I, my extended family, and my friends--came here to help rebuild and to help preserve what remains.” She turned and looked at everyone. “And bringing Urdnot Stannis here corrected the biggest wrong done to the Krogan by the Initiative. As for everything else, I’ll say it plain; we’re here to pitch in wherever and however we can. When and if the Kett come back, we’ll fight them right alongside you. We don’t have raw manpower, but we’re great at information gathering and small-unit operations. What we discover, we’ll share freely.”

“I do have a tangential question.” The Salarian Pathfinder raised his hand. “I understand that there’s a sentient being at the heart of the Meridian Engine?”

Israfel smiled. “You’re correct, Captain Hayjer. Jack, my nephew, was asleep during the Battle of Meridian; Pathfinder Ryder’s activation of several vaults started the awakening process, but Jack was still in the equivalent of a coma, acting autonomically rather than being an active part of the network. The activation of the network ended the long sleep, and Jack started being a little more attentive to things. And when my group arrived, I finished the process.”

“Are we able to see him?” Hayjer sounded excited.

_ Of course he _ can, Jack whispered in the back of Israfel's mind.  I _ just need some notice. _

Israfel smiled at the sound of her nephew’s voice. “Of course; just let him know you’re coming--he doesn’t want to be a poor host. But yes, visitors are welcome.” She activated her OmniTool. “This is the comms frequency that we’ve been using to communicate with the Vaults and the Engine; Scott and Junior already had it, and now the rest of you have it. If you’d like one of us to come with you the first time you go visit, just let me know.”

“Splendid!” Hayjer beamed and gave a little fist-pump. “The science officer on board my scout ship has been champing at the bit to explore the interior of the Engine since the Battle of Meridian.”

Israfel nodded. “And with that, let me reiterate that I understand that our being forthcoming with information and offers of assistance is a bit...well, forward.” Kandros and Addison both nodded, and Tann narrowed his eyes a bit. “Honestly though? Help is what my people do,” Israfel continued. “It’s why there are Libraries in the Milky Way, where the knowledge of the centuries is made available for the betterment of all. It’s why we fought "under cover" in the Reaper War, alongside a united Milky Way. All of us here in Heleus--Jardaan, Initiative, Angara, Consensus--are in this together, and keeping secrets will only engender paranoia. I’d rather be as transparent as possible, offer assistance wherever and whenever we can, and let you verify our intent for yourselves.”

“I’m a little light on Human mythology,” Kandros countered, “but aren’t angels supposed to be beings of incredible cosmic power?”

Israfel gave a slight shrug. “The best answer to that would be “yes-but”. We’re powerful, yes, but we’re not omnipotent--nor is our power infinite. That being said, my people use technology that combines element zero with grace--the energy that makes an angel an angel. We live in balance in this world, as opposed to being creatures of pure creative energy as we were in the Old Creation--the world we came from. Some of my people adopted biotics and balance grace and dark energy within themselves. Others, like me, use technology to supplement our own innate abilities, and we save our grace for when it’s truly needed.”

“Like that fall you took on Meridian,” Stannis remarked.

“Like that fall I took on Meridian--though it was less a fall and more a fifteen-thousand meter HALO drop without a parachute or jump jets to provide a brake.” Israfel winced. “I blew all of my grace making sure that my vessel didn’t get splattered over the terrain, and I’m still not fully recovered from it.” She waved her hand toward the center of the table and smiled. “In any event, the Library has papers that some of my sibs have written about the nature of grace and its relationship to eezo, for those who are interested. In the meantime, I and my crew are available to meet with you individually if you wish, and  _ Azrael’s Memory _ is, as I mentioned previously, open for visitors.”

The Moshae sat for a moment with a finger on her lips, pondering the angel’s words. She sat up and said, “I believe we can adjourn, then.”

“Seconded,” Kesh said. She stood. “I’ve got what Mordin called a “well-baby appointment”, so I really need to go. Ambassador, I’d love to talk to you at some point.”

Israfel nodded. Everyone else stood from the table, and the gathering broke up into small groups as Israfel received a message on her OmniTool with an address attached.

_ Got time to visit with your boyfriend, or is everyone keeping you busy? _

The archangel grinned and sent a message back:

_ We’re done for now, my love. I’ll see you soon. _


End file.
